
Book -ffy </ __ 



ZTPf 



OVERLAND 

THROUG-H ASIA. 



PICTURES OP 



SIBEEIAN, CHINESE, AND TARTAR 
LIFE. 



TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES IN KAMCHATKA, SIBERIA, CHINA, MONGOLIA, 
CHINESE TARTART, AND EUROPEAN RUSSIA, WITH FULL AC- 
• COUNTS OP THE SIBERIAN EXILES, THEIR TREATMENT, 

CONDITION, AND MODE OP L1PE, A DESCRIP- 
TION OP THE AMOOR RIVER, AND 
THE SIBERIAN SHORES OF THE 
FROZEN OCEAN. 



"WITH JLN A.FFROPRI^TE M-A.I», 

AND 

NEARLY 200 ILLUSTRATIONS. 






THOMAS WV'KNOX. 

AUTHOR OF " <JA.M.I? FIRE AND COTTON" FIELD." 



ISSUED BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY, AND NOT FOR SALE IN THE BOOK STORES. RESIDENTS OP ANY STATE 
DESIRING A COPY SHOULD ADDRESS THE PUBLISHERS, AND AN AGENT WILL C Mi UPON THEM. 



HARTFORD, CONN: 
AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

P. G. GILMAN & CO., CHICAGO, ILLS.; NETTLETON & CO., CINCINNATI, OHIO. 

H. H. BANCROFT & CO., SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 
1870. 



- 



Entered according to act af Congress, in the year 1870, by 

THOMAS W. KNOX, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



The proper steps have been taken to secure a copyright in Great Britain, and 
all infringements will be prosecuted. 



The right of translation is reserved. 



WILLIAM H. IO0KW00B, 

Electrotyper, 
Hertford, conn. 






PREFACE. 



Fourteen years ago Major Perry McD. Collins traversed North- 
ern Asia, and wrote an account of his journey, entitled "A Voyage 
Down the Amoor." "With the exception of that volume no other 
work on this little known region has appeared from the pen of an 
American writer. In view of this fact, the author of "Overland 
Through Asia" indulges the hope that his book will not be consid- 
ered a superfluous addition to the literature of his country. 

The journey herein recorded was undertaken partly as a pleasure 
trip, partly as a journalistic enterprise, and partly in the interest of 
the company that attempted to carry out the plans of Major Collins 
to make an electric connection between Europe and the United States 
by way of Asia and Bering's Straits. In the service of the Russo- 
American Telegraph Company, it may not be improper to state that 
the author's official duties were so few, and his pleasures so numer- 
ous, as to leave the kindest recollections of the many persons con- 
nected with the enterprise. 

Portions of this book have appeared in Harper's, Putnam's, The 
Atlantic, The Galaxy, and the Overland Monthlies, and in Frank 
Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. They have been received with such 
favor as to encourage their reproduction wherever they could be in- 
troduced in the narrative of the journey. The largest part of the 
book has been written from a carefully recorded journal, and is now 
in print for the first time. The illustrations have been made from 
photographs and pencil sketches, and in all cases great care has been 
exercised to represent correctly the costumes of the country. To 



VI PREFACE. 

Frederick Whymper, Esq., artist of the Telegraph Expedition, and 
to August Hoffman, (Photographer,) of Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia, 
the author is specially indebted. 

The orthography of geographical names is after the Russian model. 
The author hopes it will not be difficult to convince his countrymen 
that the shortest form of spelling is the best, especially when it rep- 
resents the pronunciation more accurately than does the old method. 
A frontier justice once remarked, when a lawyer ridiculed his way 
of writing ordinary words, that a man was not properly educated 
who could spell a word in only one way. On the same broad prin- 
ciple I will not quarrel with those who insist upon retaining an extra 
letter in Bering and Ohotsk and two superfluous letters in Kam- 
chatka. 

Among those not mentioned in the volume, thanks are due to 
Frederick Macrellish, Esq., of San Francisco, Hon. F. F. Low of 
Sacramento, Alfred "Whymper, Esq., of London, and the many gen- 
tlemen coimected with the Telegraph Expedition. There are dozens 
and hundreds of individuals in Siberia and elsewhere, of all grades 
and conditions in life, who have placed me under numberless obliga- 
tions. Wherever I traveled the most uniform courtesy was shown 
me, and though conscious that few of those dozens and hundreds will 
ever read these lines, I should consider myself ungrateful did I fail 
to acknowledge their kindness to a wandering American. 

T. W. K. 

Astor House, N. Y., Sept. 15, 1870. 




-*-+-+- 



PAGE 

Frontispiece, The Author in Siberian Costume, — 

Character Developed, 20 

Aspinwall to Panama, 23 

Slightly Monotonous, 24 

Montgomery Street in Holiday Dress, 25 

San Francisco, 1848, 26 

Chinese Dinner, 27 

Over Six Feet, 31 

Steamship Wright in a Storm, (Full Page,) pace page, 32 

A Sea Sick Booby,. 33 

Wreck op the Ship Canton, 34 

Aleutians Catching Whales, 37 

Breach op Etiquette, 43 

Unexpected Honors, 45 

Russian Marriage, 47 

Russian Pope at Home, 50 

A Scaly Bridge, 52 

Russian Tea Service, 54 

Change for a Dollar, 56 

Cow and Bear, 58 

A Kamchatka Team, 60 

Repulse op the Assailants, 63 

View op Sitka, (Full Page,) face page, 68 

Plenty op Time, 76 

Russian Officers at Mess > 77 

Ascending the Bay, 80 

Taking the Census, '. 82 

Light-House at Ghijiga, 83 

Towed by Dogs, (Full Page,) face page, 84 

Koriak Yourt, 87 

Discharging a Deck Load 90 

Reindeer Ride, 91 

Tall Piece, Reindeer, 94 



Vlll LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

34. Wagon Ride with Dogs 98 

35. Yearly Mail, 100 

36. Dogs Fishing, 101 

37. Teachings of Experience, , 107 

33 BoaT Load op Salmon, 115 

39 An Effective Protest, 116 

40 Nothing but Bones, 120 

41. Tail Piece— Native Woman, 123 

42. Seeing Off, 125 

43. Life on the Amoor, (Full Page,) face page, 129 

44. A Gilyak Village, 131 

45. About Full, 133 

46. Tail Piece— A Turn Out, 134 

47. On the Amoor, 137 

48- Cash Account 139 

49 Wooding Up , 140 

50. Bear in Procession, 144 

51 Practice of Medicine, 146 

52. Manjour Merchant, 149 

63. Gilyak Man 151 

54. Gilyak Woman, 152 

65. Peasants by Moonlight, (Full Page,) face page, 153 

56. Tail Piece— The Net, » 157 

57. Ten Miles an Hour 160 

58. Goldee House at Night, (Full Page,) face page, 162 

59. The IIypocondriac, 163 

60. •' Nor for Joe,"' 167 

61. Tail Piece — Scene on the River, '. 169 

62. Reception at Petrovsky, 172 

63. Armed and Equipped, 176 

64. General Activity, 182 

65. Tail Piece— Flask, 1S3 

66. Manjour Boat, 1SS 

67. A Private Temple 196 

68. Fishing Implements, 199 

69. Chinese Family Picture, 205 

70. Manjour Traveling Carrlmje, , 211 

71. Tail Piece— Towards the Sun, 216 

72. The Ammunition Wagon, 218 

73. Finishing Touch 223 

74. Emigrants on the Amoor, 229 

75. Sa-Ga-Yan Cliff, _ 233 

76. Rifle Shooting, 236 

77. Tail Piece— Game 239 

7S. Preparing for Winter, 247 

79. Tail Piece 249 

80. Stratensk, Eastern Siberia, 252 

51. A Siberian Tarantass, 258 

82. Tail Piece, 261 

83. Favorite Bed, 269 

84. Concentrated Energies 273 

85. Prisoners at Chetah, 276 

86. On the Hills near Chetah, 279 

87. Bouriat Yourts, 286 

88. A Mongol Bell, 288 

89. A Mongol Belle, 289 

90 Catching Sheep, , 290 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. IX 

PA3E 

91. A Cold Bath 291 

92. Tail Piece, 295 

93. Our Ferry Boat, 297 

94. Equal Rights, , 300 

95. Amateur Concert in Siberia, 304 

96. Chinese Mandarin, 307 

97. Interior op Chinese Temple, (Full Page,) face page, 310 

9S. Through Ordinary Eyes, 314 

99. Through Chinese Eyes, 314 

100. Legal Tender, 319 

101. Russian Pets, 321 

102. Pony Express, 322 

103. A Disagreeable Appendage, 323 

104. Suspended Freedom, 323 

105. Punishment for Burglary, 324 

106. Chopstick, Fork, and Saucer, 325 

107. Chinese Theatre, 326 

10S. Chinese Tiger 327 

109. Chinese Punishment, (Full Page,) face page, 332 

110. Provision Dealer, 337 

111. Chinese Mendicants, 339 

112. The Favorite, 341 

113 Female Feet and Shoe, 342 

114. A Lottery Prize, 343 

115. A Pekin Cab, 345 

116. A Chinese Palanquin 345 

117. Priest in Temple of Confucius 346 

IIS Comforts and Conveniences, 349 

119. Filial Attention, 349 

120. Tail Piece— Opium Pipe 350 

121. A Musical Stop,... 352 

122. Nankow Pass, (Full Page,) face page 354 

123. Racing at the Kalgan Fair, • 357 

124. Streets in Kalgan, 358 

125. In Good Condition, 359 

126. Lost in the Desert of Gobi, 363 

127. Mongol Dinner Table, 366 

128. Crossing the Tolla. (Full Page,) face page, 367 

129. The Schoolmaster. 370 

130. Tail Piece, , 371 

131. Wild Boar Hunt , 375 

132. A Wife at Irkutsk, 376 

133. No Wife at Irkutsk, 376 

134. A Soudna, 378 

135. After the Earthquake 380 

136. Lake Baikal in Winter, (Full Page,) face page 381 

137. A Specimen, 384 

138. Tail Piece— The World, 385 

139. Gov. General Korsackoff, 387 

140. View— Irkutsk, 390 

141. A Cold Attachment, 394 

142. Queen of Greece, 397 

143. Emperor of Russia, 400 

144. Tail Piece— Twin Bottles, 405 

145. Home of two Exiles— Real, Imaginary, 409 

146. Tail Piece — Quarters, 418 

147 Tartar Cavalry, 422 



x ' LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

148. Siberian Exiles, (Full Page,) face page, „ c 430 

149. TAa Piece,.. ,■ 435 

150. A Vashok, 439 

151. A Kibitka, 440 

152. Farewell to Irkutsk, 443 

153. Our Conductor, 454 

154. Jumping Cradle Holes, , 456 

155. Valley of the Yenesei, 462 

156. Wolf Hunt, (Full Page,) face page, 466 

157. Hydraulic Mining, 472 

158. Tail Piece, 477 

159. Down Hill, 4S3 

160. Dogs Among Ice, 489 

161. Jumping the Fissures, 492 

162. The Team, 494 

163. Tail Piece, 508 

164. In the mine, 516 

165. Strange Coincidence, 518 

166. Tail Piece, 519 

167. The Elopement, 527 

168. The Fight, 52S 

169. The Catastrophe, 529 

170. Tail Piece, 530 

171. The Polkedovate, 535 

172. Making Explanation, 536 

173 After the Bath, 533 

174. Tail Piece, 540 

175. The Driver's Toilet 544 

176. Women Spinning , 545 

177. Flogging with Sticks, 547 

178. Tail Piece, 551 

179. Lost in a Snow Storm, 553 

180. Fatal Result 559 

181. Tail Piece, 561 

182. Excuse my Familiarity, 563 

183. Frosted Horses, 564 

184. View of Ekaterineburg, (Full Page,) face page, 568 

185. Europe and Asia, 574 

186 A Russian Beggar, 575 

187. Beggars in Kazan, 594 

188. The Immersion, 595 

189. Russian Priest, 598 

190. Tail Piece, \ 601 

191. Great Bell of Moscow, 605 

192. View on the Nevski Prospect, St. Petersburg, (Full Page,) to face, 607 

193. Tail Piecb— SIbbiing ah Old Friend, 60S 




CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

Off from New York — Around the world by steam — Value of a letter of 
credit — A cure for sea sickness— Doing the Isthmus — An exciting por- 
poise race — Glimpse of San Francisco — Trip to the Yo Semite Valley 
— From the Golden Gate into the Pacific 19 

CHAPTER II. 

A strange company — Difficulties of sea life — A tall man and a short room 
— How the dog went to sleep — A soapy cabin — Catching a booby — Two 
Sundays together — A long lost wreck — Incidents at sea — Manner of 
catching whales in Alaska — A four footed pilot — Dog stories — How to 
take an observation — Coast of Asia — Entering Avatcha bay — An eco- 
nomical light keeper 30 

CHAPTER III. 

In a Russian port — Hail Columbia — Petropavlovsk — Volcanoes and earth- 
quakes — Directions for making a Russian town — A Kamchadale wed- 
ding — Standing up with the Dride — A hot ceremony — A much married 
pope — Russian religious practices — Drinking with the priest and what 
came of it 41 

CHAPTER IV. 

Vegetation in Kamchatka — Catching salmon — A scaly bridge — An evening 
on shore — Samovars and tea drinking — The fur trade — Bear hunting — 
What a cow brought home one day — Siberian dogs — A musical town 
— The adventures of Norcum — Training a team — Sledges and how to 
manage them — A voyage under the Polish flag — Monument to Captain 
Clerke — The allied attack — The battle of Petropavlovsk 51 

CHAPTER V. 

Bering's voyages — Discovery of Alaska — Shipwreck and death of Bering — 
The Russian-American Company — The first governor of Alaska — 
Promushleniks — Russian settlement in California — Account of Russian 
explorations — Character of the country — Its extent and resources — Ad- 
vantages and disadvantages of the Alaska purchase 64 

CHAPTER VI. 

Leaving Kamchatka — Farewell to the ladies — A new kind of telegraph — 
Entering the Ohotsk sea — From steam to sail — Sleeping among chro- 
nometers — Talking by signs — A burial at sea — A Russian funeral — 
Land in sight — Ghijiga bay 71 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. page. 

Baggage for shore travel — Much wine and little bread — A perplexing di- 
lemma — How to take the census — Siberian beds — Towed by dogs — En- 
counter with a beast — Coaxing a team with clubs — The Koriaks — Their 
manners and customs — Comical cap for a native — A four footed cur- 
rency — Yourts and Balagans — Curious marriage ceremony — Lightening 
a boat in a storm — Very strong whisky — Riding on a reindeer — An in- 
toxicating mushroom — An electric devil — a Siberian snow storm — How 
a party was lost 79 

CHAPTER VIII. 

How a pointer became a bull dog — Coral in high latitudes — Sending Cham- 
pagne to Neptune — Arrival at Ohotsk — Three kinds of natives — A 
lunch with the ladies — A native entertainment — A mail once a year — 
A lover's misfortune — An astonished American — Hunting a bear and 
being hunted — An unfortunate ride. . .' 95 

CHAPTER IX. 

At sea again — Beauties of a Northern sky — Warlike news and preparing 
for war — The coast of Japan — An exciting moment — A fo£ bell of sea 
lions — Ready for fight — De Castries' bay — A bewildered fleet — Good- 
bye to the Variag — In the straits of Tartary — A difficult sleeping place 
— A Siberian mirage — Entering the Amoor river 102 

CHAPTER X. 

On shore at Nicolayevsk — An American Consul — Visiting the Governor — 
Machine shops on the Amoor with American managers — The servant 
girl question — A Gilyak boat full of salmon — An unfortunate water 
carrier — The Amoor Company — Foreign and native merchants — Rais- 
ing sheep among tigers — Rats eating window glass — Riding in a cart... 110 

CHAPTER XL 

Up the Amoor — Seeing off a friend — A Siberian steamboat — How the steam- 
boats are managed — Packages by post — Curiosities of the Russian mail 
service — An unhappy bride — Haj' barges — Gilyak villages — Visiting a 
village — Bad for the nose — Native dogs — Interviewing a Gilyak lady — 
A rapid descent 124 

CHAPTER XII. 

The monastery of Eternal Repose — Curious religious customs — Features 
of the scenery — Passengers on our boat — An adventurous merchant — 
Captured by the Chinese — A pretty girl and her fellow passenger — 
Wooding up — An Amoor town — The telegraph — How it is built and 
operated — A native school — Fighting the tiger — Religious practices of 
the Gilyaks — Mistaken kindness 135 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Stepanoff and his career — A Manjour boat — Catching salmon — A sturgeon 
pen — The islands of the Amoor — A night scene at a wooding station — 
A natural cathedral — The birds of the Amoor — The natives of the 
country — Interviewing a native Mandarin 148 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Entering a Goldee house — Native politeness — What to do with a tame eagle 
— An intelligent dog team — An exciting race — A Mongol belle — Visit- 
ing a Goldee house at night — A reception in a shirt — Fish skin over- 
coats — Curious medical custom — Draw poker on the Amoor river — 
Curiosity — Habarofka— " No turkey for me " — A visit on shore — Ex- 
perience with fleas 158 



CONTENTS. xiii 

CHAPTER XV. page. 

First view of China — A beautiful region — Petrovsky — Women in the water 
— An impolite reception— A scanty population — Visiting a military 
post — Division of labor for a hunting excursion — The Songaree — A 
Chinese military station — Resources of the Songaree — Experience of a 
traveler — Hunting a tiger — A perilous adventure 170 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Ekaterin — Nikolskoi — The Province of the Amoor — Character of the Cos- 
sack — The Buryea Mountains — A man overboard — Passing a mountain 
chain — Manjour boats — Bringing pigs to market — Women in the open 
air — A new tribe of natives — Rest for a bath — Russian cavair — How it 
is made — Feeding with a native — A heavy drink — A fleet of fishing 
boats 184 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Scenery on the middle Amoor — A military colony — Among the Manjours 
— 'A Manjour temple — A Chinese naval station — A crew of women — 
Strange ways of catching fish — The city of Igoon — Houses plastered 
with mud — Visiting a harem — Talking pigeon-Chinese — Visiting the 
prison 194 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The mouth of the Zeya — Blagoveshchensk — Kind reception by the govern- 
or — Attending a funeral — A polyglot doctor and his family — Intercourse 
with the Chinese — A visit to Sakhalin-Oula — A government office — A 
Chinese traveling carriage — Visiting a Manjour governor — A polite of- 
ficial — A Russian Mongol reception — Curiosities of the Chinese police 
system — Advice to the Emperor of China 206 

CHAPTER XIX. 
A deer-hunting pic-nic — Russian ploughing — Nursing a deer gazelle — A 
shot and what came of it — The return and overturn — The Siberian ga- 
zelle — A Russian steam bath — How to take it — On a new steamer — 
The cabin of the Korsackoff — A horse opera — An intoxicated priest — 
Private stock of provisions — The dove a sacred bird — Emigrant rafts 
— A Celestial guard house 217 

CHAPTER XX. 

The upper Amoor — Sagayan cliff — Hunting for gold — Rich gold mines in 
the Amoor valley — The Tungusians — A goose for a cigar — An awk- 
ward rifle — Albazin — The people in Sunday dress — The siege of Alba- 
zin — Visiting the old fort 232 

CHAPTER XXI. 

A sudden change — Beef preserved with laurel leaves — A Russian settler — 
New York pictures in a Russian house — The Flowery Kingdom — Early 
explorations — The conquest of the Amoor — A rapid expedition — The 
Shilka and the Argoon — An old settled country — A lady in the case — 
Hotels for the exiles — Stratensk — A large crowd — End of a long steam- 
boat ride 240 

CHAPTER XXII. 

A hotel at Stratensk — A romantic courtship — Starting overland — A diffi- 
cult ferry — A Russian posting carriage — Good substitute for a trunk — 
"Road Agent" in Siberia — Rights of travelers — Kissing goes by favor 
— Captain John Franklin's equipage — Value of a ball — Stuck in the 
mud — The valley of the Nertcha — Reaching Nerchinsk 256 



• XIV CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE XXIII. page. 

An extensive house — A Russian gold miner — Stories of the exiles — Polish 
exiles — " The unfortunates " — The treatment of prisoners — Attempts 
to escape — Buying a tarantass — Light marching order — A bad road — 
Sleeping on a stove — The valley of the Ingodah — Two hours in a mud 
hole — Recklessness of drivers — Arrival at Chetah 262 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Location of Chetah — Prisoners in chains — Ingenuity of the exiles — Learn- 
ing Hail Columbia in two hours — A governor's mansion — A hunting 
party — Siberian rabbits — Difficulties of matrimony — Religion in Si- 
beria — An artillery review — Champagne and farewells — Crossing a 
frozen stream — Inconvenience of traveling with a dog — Crossing the 
Yablonoi Mountains — Approaching the Arctic Ocean 275 

CHAPTER XXV. 

A cold night — Traveling among the Mongols — The Bouriats and their 
dwellings — An unpleasant fire — The Bhuddist religion — Conversions 
among the natives — An easy way of catching sheep — A Mongol bell — 
A Mongol belle — A late hour and a big dog — Bullocks under saddle — 
An enterprising girl— Sleeping in a carriage — Arrival at Verkne Udinsk 
— Walking in the market place — Stories of Siberian robbers — An enter- 
prising murderer — Gold and iron mines on the Selenga 285 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Crossing a river on the ice — A dangerous situation — Dining on soup and 
caviar — Caravans of tea — The rights of the road — How the drivers 
treat each other — Selenginsk — An old exile — Troubled by the nose — 
Lodged by the police — A housekeeper in undress — An amateur concert 
— Troitskosavsk and Kiachta — Crossing the frontier — Visiting the Chi- 
nese governor 296 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
In the Chinese empire — A city without a woman — A Chinese court of jus- 
tice — Five interpretations — Chinese and Russian methods of tea mak- 
ing — A Chinese temple — Sculpture in sand stone — The gods and the 
Celestials — The Chinese idea of beauty — The houses in Maimaichin — 
Chinese dogs — Bartering with the merchants— The Chinese ideas of 
honesty — How they entertained us — The Abacus 306 

CHAPTER XXVni. 

Russian feast days — A curious dinner custom — Novel separation of the 
sexes — The wealth of Kiachta — The extent of the tea trade — Dodging 
the custom house — Foreign residents of Kiachta — Fifteen dogs in one 
family — The devil and the telegraph — Russian gambling — Dinner with 
the Chinese governor — Chinese punishments — Ingredients of a Chinese 
dinner — Going to the theatre in midday — Two dinners in one day — 
Farewell to Kiachta 316 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Trade between America and China — The first ship for a Chinese port — 
Chinese river system — The first steamboat on a Chinese river — The 
Celestials astonished — A nation of shop-keepers — Chinese insurance 
and banking systems — The first letters of credit — Railways in the em- 
pire — The telegraph in China — Pigeon-English — The Chinese treaty. . 329 



CONTENTS. XV 

CHAPTER XXX. PAGE . 

The great cities of China — Pekin and its interesting features — The Chinese 
city and the Tartar one — Rat peddlers, jugglers, beggars, and other 
liberal professionals — The rat question in China — Tricks of the jug- 
glers — Mendicants and dwarfs — " The house of the hen's feathers " — 
How small feet became fashionable — Fashion in America and China — 
Gambling in Pekin — An interesting lottery prize — Executions by lot — 
Punishing robbers — Opposition to dancing — The temple of Confucius 
— Temples of Heaven and Earth — The famous Summer Palace — Chi- 
nese cemeteries — Coffins as household ornaments — Calmness at death . . 336 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

A journey through Mongolia — Chinese dislike to foreign travel — Leaving 
Pekin — How to stop a mule's music — The Nankow Pass — A fort cap- 
tured because of a woman — The great wall of China — Loading the 
pack mules — Kalgan — Mosques and Pagodas — A Mongol horse fair — 
How a transaction is managed — A camel journey on the desert — How 
to arrange his load — A Mongolian cart — A brisk trade in wood for 
coffins 351 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Entering the desert of Gobi — Instincts of the natives — An antelope hunt — 
Lost on the desert — Discovered and rescued — Character of the Mongols 
— Boiled mutton, and how to eat it — Fording the Tolla river — An ex- 
citing passage — Arrival at Urga — A Mongol Lamissary — The victory 
of Genghis Khan — Chinese couriers — Sheep raising in Mongolia — Holy 
men in abundance — Inconvenience of being a lama — A praying machine 
— Arrival at Kiachta 361 

CHAPTER XXXin. 

Departure from Kiachta — An agreeable companion — Making ourselves com- 
fortable — A sacred village — -Hunting a wild boar — A Russian monas- 
tery — Approaching Lake Baikal — Hunting for letters — " Doing " Po- 
solsky — A pile of merchandise — A crowded house — Rifle and pistol 
practice — A Russian soudna — A historic building — A lake steamer in 
Siberia — Exiles on shore — A curious lake — Wonderful journey over 
the ice — The Holy Sea — A curious group — The first custom house — 
Along the banks of the Angara — A strange fish — Arrival at Irkutsk. . 372 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Turned over to the police — Visiting the Governor General — An agreeahle 
officer in a fine house — Paying official visits — German in pantomime — 
The passport system — Cold weather — Streets, stores, and houses at Ir- 
kutsk — Description of the city — The Angara river — A novel regulation 
— A swinging ferry boat — Cossack policeman — An alarm of fire — 
" Running with the machine " in Russia — Markets at Irkutsk — Effects 
of kissing with a low thermometer 386 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

Society in Irkutsk — Social customs — Lingual powers of the Russians — Ef- 
fect of speaking two languages to an infant — Intercourse of the Siberi- 
ans with Polish exiles — A hospitable people — A ceremonious dinner — 
Russian precision — A long speech and a short translation — The Amoor- 
ski Gastinitza — Playing billiards at a disadvantage — Muscovite super- 
stition — Open house and pleasant tea-parties — A wealthy gold miner. . . 396 



1 



XVI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. page. 
The exiles of 1 825 — The Emperor Paul and his eccentricities — Alexander 
I. — The revolution of 1825 -Its result — Severity of Nicholas — Hard 
labor for life — Conditions of banishment — A pardon after thirtj 1- years 
— Where the Decembrists live — The Polish question — Both sides of it 
— Banishments since 1863 — The government policy — Difference between 
political and criminal exiles — Colonists — Drafted into the army — Pen- 
sion from friends — Attempts to escape — Restrictions and social comforts 
— How the prisoners travel — The object of deportation — Rules for ex- 
iling serfs 406 

CHAPTER XXXVn. 
Serfdom and exile — Peter I. and Alexander II. — Example of Siberia to old 
Russia — Prisoners in the mines — A revolt— The trial of the insurgents 
— Sentence and execution — A remarkable escape — Piotrowski's narra- 
tive — Free after four years 419 

CHAPTER XXXVIIL 

Preparing to leave Irkutsk — Change from wheels to runners — Buying a suit 
of fur — Negotiations for a sleigh — A great many drinks — Peculiarities 
of Russian merchants — Similarities of Russians and Chinese — Several 
kinds of sleighs — A Siberian saint — A farewell dinner — Packing a sleigh 
— A companion with heavy baggage — Farewell courtesies — Several 
parting drinks — Traveling through a frost cloud — Effect of fog in a 
cold night — A monotonous snow scape — Meals at the stations — A jolly 
party — An honest population — Diplomacy with the drivers 436 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

A Siberian beverage — The wine of the country — An unhappy pig — Tea 
caravans for Moscow — Intelligence of a horse — Champagne frappe — 
Meeting the post — How the mail is carried — A lively shaking up — 
Board of survey on a dead horse — Sleeping rooms in peasant houses — 
Kansk — A road with no snow — Putting our sleighs on wheels — A de- 
ceived Englishman — Crossing the Yenesei — Krasnoyarsk — Washing 
clothes in winter — A Siberian banking house — The telegraph system — 
No dead-heads — Fish from the Yenesei — A Siberian Neptune — Going 
on a wolf hunt — How a hunt is managed — An exciting chase and a 
narrow escape 451 

CHAPTER XL. 

Beggars at Krasnoyarsk — A wealthy city — Gold mining on the Yenesei — \ 
Its extent and the value of the mines — How the mining is conducted — 
Explorations, surveys, and the preparation of the ground— Wages and 
treatment -of laborers — Machines for gold washing — Regulations to pre- 
vent thefts — Mining in frozen earth — Antiquity of the mines — The na- 
tive population — An Eastern legend — The adventures of " Swan's 
Wing" — Visit to lower regions — Moral of the story 467 

CHAPTER XLI. 
A philosophic companion — Traveling with the remains of a mammoth- 
Talking against time — Sleighs on wheels — The advantages of " cheek" 
— A moonlight transfer — Keeping the feast days — Getting drunk as a 
religious duty — A slight smash up — A cold night — An abominable road 
— Hunting a mammoth — Journey to the Arctic Circle — Natives on the 
coast — A mammoth's hide and hair — Ivory hunting in the frozen North 
— A perilous adventure — Cast away in the Arctic ocean — Fight with a 
polar bear — A dangerous situation — Frozen to the ice — Reaching the 
shore 478 



CONTENTS. XV11 

CHAPTER XLII. pagb. 
A runaway horse — Discussion with a driver — A modest breakfast — A con- 
voy of exiles — Hotels for the exiles — Charity to the unfortunate — Their 
rate of travel — An encounter at night — No whips in the land of horses 
— Russian drivers and their horses — Niagara in Siberia — Eggs by the 
dizaine — Caught in a storm — A beautiful night — Arrival at Tomsk — 
An obliging landlord — A crammed sleigh — Visiting the governor — 
Description of Tomsk — A steamboat line to Tumen — Schools in Si- 
beria 495 

CHAPTER XLIIL 
A frozen river — On the road to Barnaool — An unpleasant night — Posts at 
the road side — Very high wind — A Russian bouran — A poor hotel — 
Greeted with American music — The gold mines of the Altai mountains 
— Survey of the mining district — General management of the business X 
— The museum at Barnaool — The imperial zavod — Reducing the ores 
— Government tax on mines — A strange coincidence 509 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

Society at Barnaool — A native coachman — An Asiatic eagle — The Kirghese 
— The original Tartars — Russian diplomacy among the natives — Ad- 
vance of civilization — Railway building in Central Asia — Product of 
the Kirghese country — Fairs in Siberia — Caravans from Bokhara — An 
adventure among the natives — Capture of a native prince — A love story 
and an elopement — A pursuit, fight, and tragic end of the journey. . . . 520 

CHAPTER XLV. 
Interview with a Persian officer — A slow conversation — Seven years of cap- 
tivity — A scientific explorer — Relics of past ages — An Asiatic dinner 
— Cossack dances — Tossed up as a mark of honor — Trotting horses in 
Siberia — Washing a paper collar — On the Baraba steppe — A long ride 
— A walking ice statue — Traveling by private teams — Excitement of a 
race — How to secure honesty in a public solicitor — Prescription for 
rheumatism 531 

CHAPTER XLVL 
A monotonous country — Advantages of winter travel — Fertility of the 
steppe — Rules for the haying season — Breakfasting on nothing — A Si- 
berian apple — Delays in changing horses — Universal tea drinking — 
Tartars on the steppe — Siberian villages — Mode of spinning in Russia 
— An unsuccessful conspiracy — How a revolt was organized — A con- ^ 
spirator flogged to death — The city of Tobolsk — The story of Elizabeth 
— The conquest of Siberia — Yermak and his career 541 

CHAPTER XLVII. 

Another snow storm — Wolves in sight — Unwelcome visitors — Going on a 
wolf chase — An unlucky pig — Hunting at night — A hungry pack — 
Wolves in every direction — The pursuers and the pursued — A danger- 
ous turn in the road — A driver lost and devoured — A narrow escape — 
Forest guards against bears and wolves — A courageous horse — The 
story of David Crockett 552 

CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Thermometer very low — Inconvenience of a long beard — Fur clothing in 
abundance — Natural thermometers — Rubbing a freezing nose — A beau- 
tiful night on the steppe — Siberian twilights — Thick coat for horses — 
The city of Tumen — Magnificent distances — Manufacture of carpets — 
A lucrative monopoly — Arrival at Ekaterineburg — Christmas festivities 

2 



XY111 CONTENTS. 

PAGB. 

— Manufactures at Ekatcrincburg — The Granilnoi Fabric — Russian 
iron and where it comes from — The Demidofr' family — A large piece of 
malachite — An emperor as an honest miner 562 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

Among the stone workers — A bewildering collection — Visit to a private 
"Fabric' — The mode of stone cutting — Crossing the mountains — 
Boundary between Europe and Asia — Standing in two continents at 
once — Entering Europe by the back door — In the valley of the Kama 
— Touching appeal by a beggar — The great fair at Irbit — An improved 
road — A city of thieves — Tanning in Russia — Evidence of European 
civilization — Perm — Pleasures of sleigh riding — The road fever — The 
Emperor Nicholas and a courier — A Russian sleighing song 571 

CHAPTER L. 

Among the Votiaks — Malmouish — Advice to a traveler — Dress and habits 
of the Tartars — Tartar villages and mosques — A long night — Over- 
turned and stopped — Arrival at Kazan — New Year's festivities — Russian 
soldiers on parade — Military spirit of the Romanoff family — Anecdote 
of the Grand Duke Michel — The conquest of Kazan — An evening in a 
ball-room — Enterprise of Tartar peddlers — Manufactures and schools 
— A police secret — The police in Russia 580 

CHAPTER LI. 
Leaving Kazan — A Russian companion — Conversation with a phrase book 
— A sloshy street — Steamboats frozen in the ice — Navigation of the 
Volga — The Cheramess — Pity the unfortunate — A road on the ice — 
Merchandise going Westward — Villages along the Volga — A baptism 
through the ice — Religion in Russia — Toleration and tyranny — The 
Catholics in Poland — The Old Believers — The Skoptsi, or mutilators — 
Devotional character of the Russian peasantry — Diminishing the priest- 
ly power — Church and state — End of a long sleigh ride — Nijne Novgo- 
rod — At the wrong hotel — Historical monuments — Entertained by the 
police 591 

CHAPTER Ln. 

Starting for Moscow — Jackdaws and pigeons — At a Russian railway station 
— The group in waiting — The luxurious ride — A French governess and 
a box of bon-bons — Cigarettes and tea — Halting at Vladimir — Moscow 
through the frost — Trakteers — The Kremlin of Moscow — Objects of 
interest — The great bell — The memorial cannon — Treasures of the 
Kremlin — Wonderful churches of Moscow — The Kitai Gorod — The 
public market — Imperial Theatre and Foundling Hospital — By rail to 
St. Petersburg — Encountering an old friend 602 



CHAPTER I. 

IT is said that an old sailor looking at the first ocean 
steamer, exclaimed, " There's an end to seamanship." 
More correctly he might have predicted the end of the ro- 
mance of ocean travel. Steam abridges time and space to 
such a degree that the world grows rapidly prosaic. Coun- 
tries once distant and little known are at this day near and 
familiar. Railways on land and steamships on the ocean, 
will transport us, at frequent and regular intervals, around 
the entire globe. From New York to San Francisco and 
thence to our antipodes in Japan and China, one may travel 
in defiance of propitious breezes formerly so essential to an 
ocean voyage. The same untiring power that bears us thither 
will bring us home again by way of Suez and Gibraltar to 
any desired port on the Atlantic coast. Scarcely more than 
a hundred days will be required for such a voyage, a dozen 
changes of conveyance and a land travel of less than a single 
week. 

The tour of the world thus performed might be found mo- 
notonous. Its most salient features beyond the overland 
journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, would be the study 
of the ocean in breeze or gale or storm, a knowledge of 
steamship life, and a revelation of the peculiarities of men and 
women when cribbed, cabined, and confined in a floating 
prison. Next to matrimony there is nothing better than a 
few months at sea for developing the realities of human char- 
acter in either sex. I have sometimes fancied that the Greek 
temple over whose door " Know thyself " was written, was 
really the passage office of some Black Ball clipper line of 

(19) 



20 



PREPABATIONS AT HOME. 



ancient days. Man is generally desirous of the company of 
his fellow man or woman, but on a long sea voyage he is in 
danger of having too much of it. He has the alternative of 

shutting himself in his room 
and appearing only at meal 
times, but as solitude has 
few charms, and cabins are 
badly ventilated, seclusion 
is accompanied by ennui 
and headache in about equal 
proportions. 

Wishing to make a jour- 
ney round the world, I did 
not look favorably upon the 
ocean route. The propor- 
tions of water and land were 
much like the relative quan- 
tities of sack and bread in 
F.alstaff's hotel bill. 
Whether on the Atlantic or 
the Pacific, the Indian, or 
the Arctic, the appearance 
of Ocean's blue expanse is very much the same. It is water 
and sky in one place, and sky and water in another. You 
may vary the monotony by seeing ships or shipping seas, but 
such occurrences are not peculiar to any one ocean. Desiring 
a reasonable amount of land travel, I selected the route that 
included Asiatic and European Russia. My passport properly 
endorsed at the Russian embassy, authorized me to enter the 
empire by the way of the Amoor river. 

A few days before the time fixed for my departure, I visited 
a Wall street banking house, and asked if I could obtain a 
letter of credit to be used in foreign travel. 
" Certainly sir," was the response. 
" Will it be available in Asia ? " 

" Yes, sir. You can use it in China, India, or Australia, 
at your pleasure." 




CHARACTER DEVELOPED. 



A HILARIOUS FAREWELL. 21 

" Can I use it in Irkutsk ? " 

" Where, sir ? " 

" In Irkutsk." 

** Really, I can't say ; what is Irkutsk ? " 

" It is the capital of Eastern Siberia." 

The person with whom I conversed, changed from gay to 
grave, and from lively to severe. With calm dignity he re- 
marked, " I am unable to say, if our letters can be used at 
the place you mention. They are good all over the civilized 
world, but I don't know anything about Irkutsk. Never heard 
of the place before." 

I bowed myself out of the establishment, with a fresh con- 
viction of the unknown character of the country whither I 
was bound. I obtained a letter of credit at the opposition 
shop, but without a guarantee of its availability in Northern 
Asia. 

In a foggy atmosphere on the morning of March 21, 1866, 
I rode through muddy streets to the dock of the Pacific Mail 
Steamship Company. There was a large party to see us off, 
the passengers having about three times their number of 
friends. There were tears, kisses, embraces, choking sighs, 
which ne'er might be repeated ; blessings and benedictions 
among the serious many, and gleeful words of farewell among 
the hilarious few. One party of half a dozen became merry 
over too much champagne, and when the steward's bell 
sounded its warning, there was confusion on the subject of 
identity. One stout gentleman who protested that he would 
go to sea, was led ashore much against his will. 

After leaving the dock, I found my cabin room-mate a gaunt, 
sallow-visaged person, who seemed perfectly at home on a 
steamer. On my mentioning the subject of sea-sickness, he 
eyed me curiously and then ventured an opinion. 

" I see," said he, " you are of bilious temperament and will 
be very ill. As for myself, I have been a dozen times over 
the route and am rarely affected by the ship's motion." 

Then he gave me some kind advice touching my conduct 
when I should feel the symptoms of approaching mal du mer. 



22 A BIBULOUS BRITON. 

I thanked him and sought the deck. An hour after we passed 
Sandy Hook, my new acquaintance succumbed to the evils 
that afflict landsmen who go down to the sea in ships. With- 
out any qualm of stomach or conscience, I returned the ad- 
vice he had proffered me. I did not suffer a moment from 
the marine malady during that voyage, or any subsequent 
one.* 

The voyage from New York to San Francisco has been so 
often ' done' and is so well watered, that I shall not describe 
it in detail. Most of the passengers on the steamer were old 
Californians and assisted in endeavoring to make the time 
pass pleasantly. There was plenty of whist-playing, story 
telling, reading, singing, flirtation, and a very large amount 
of sleeping. So far as I knew, nobody quarreled or mani- 
fested any disposition to be riotous. There was one passenger, 
a heavy, burly Englishman, whose sole occupation was in 
drinking " arf and arf." He took it on rising, then another 
drink before breakfast, then another between his steak and 
his buttered roll, and so on every half hour until midnight, 
when he swallowed a double dose and went to bed. He had 
a large quantity in care of the baggage master, and every day 
or two he would get up a few dozen pint bottles of pale ale 
and an equal quantity of porter. He emptied a bottle of each 
into a pitcher and swallowed the whole as easily as an ordin- 
ary man would take down a dose of peppermint. The empty 
bottles were thrown overboard, and the captain said that if 
this man were a frequent passenger there would be danger 
of a reef of bottles in the ocean all the way from New York 

* A few years ago a friend gave me a prescription which he said would prevent 
sea-sickness. I present it here as he wrote it. 

" The night before going to sea, I take a blue pill (5 to 10 grains) in order to 
carry the bile from the liver into the stomach. When I rise on the following 
morning, a dose of citrate of magnesia or some kindred substance finishes my 
preparation. I take my breakfast and all other meals afterward as if nothing 
had happened." 

I have used this prescription in my own case with success, and have known it 
to benefit others. 



ACEOSS THE ISTHMUS. 



23 



to Aspinwall. I never saw his equal for swallowing malt 
liquors. To quote from Shakspeare, with a slight alteration : 

" He was a man, take him for half and half, 
I ne'er shall look upon his like again." 




ASPINWALL TO PANAB1A. 



We had six hours at Aspinwall, a city that could be done 
in fifteen minutes, but were allowed no time on shore at Pan- 
ama. It was late at night when we left the latter port. The 
waters were beautifully phosphorescent, and when disturbed 



24 



ON THE CALM PACIFIC. 



by our motion they flashed and glittered like a river of stars. 
Looking over the stern one could half imagine our track a 
path of fire, and the bay, ruffled by a gentle breeze, a waving 
sheet of light. The Pacific did not belie its name. More 
than half the way to San Francisco we steamed as calmly 
and with as little motion as upon a narrow lake. Sometimes 
there was no sensation to. indicate we were moving at all. 




SLIGHTLY MONOTONOUS. 



Even varied by glimpses of the Mexican coast, the occasional 
appearance of a whale with its column of water thrown high 
into the air, and the sportive action of schools of porpoises 
which is constantly met with, the passage was slightly monot- 
onous. On the twenty-third day from New York we ended 
the voyage at San Francisco. 

On arriving in California I was surprised at the number of 
old acquaintances I encountered. When leaving New York I 
could think of only two or three persons I knew in San Fran- 
cisco, but I met at least a dozen before being on shore twelve 
hours. Through these individuals, I became known to many 
others, by a rapidity of introduction almost bewildering. 
Californians are among the most genial and hospitable people 



CALIFORNIAN HOSPITALITY. 



25 



in America, and there is no part of our republic where a 
stranger receives a kinder and more cordial greeting. There 
is no Eastern iciness of manner, or dignified indifference at 
San Francisco. Residents of the Pacific coast have told me 
that when visiting their old homes they feel as if dropped 
into a refrigerator. After learning the customs of the Occi- 
dent, one can fully appreciate the sensations of a returned 
California!!. 




MONTGOMERY STREET IN HOLIDAY DRESS. 



Montgomery street, the great avenue of San Francisco, is 
not surpassed any where on the continent in the variety of 
physiognomy it presents. There are men from all parts of 
America, and there is no lack of European representatives. 
China has many delegates, and Japan also claims a place. 
There are merchants of all grades and conditions, and pro- 



26 



A COSMOPOLITAN CITY. 



fessional and unprofessional men of every variety, with a long 
array of miscellaneous characters. Commerce, mining, agri- 
culture, and manufactures, are all represented. At the wharves 
there are ships of all nations. A traveler would find little 
difficulty, if he so willed it, in sailing away to Greenland's icy 
mountains or India's coral strand. The cosmopolitan char- 
acter of San Francisco is the first thing that impresses a 
visitor. Almost from one stand-point he may see the church, 
the synagogue, and the pagoda. The mosque is by no means 
impossible in the future. 




SAN FRANCISCO, 1848. 

In 1848, San Francisco was a village of little importance. 
The city commenced in '49, and fifteen years later it claimed 
a population of a hundred and twenty thousand.* No one 

* I made many notes with a view to publishing two or three chapters upon 
California. I have relinquished this design, partly on account of the un-Siberian 



SAN FRANCISCO OF TO-DAY. 



27 



who looks at this city, would suppose it still in its minority. 
The architecture is substantial and elegant ; the hotels vie 
with those of New York in expense and luxury ; the streets 
present both good and bad pavements and are well gridironed 
with railways ; houses, stores, shops, wharves, all indicate a 
permanent and prosperous community. There are gas-works 




and found- 
ries and 
factories, 
as in older 
communi- 
ties. There 

are the Mission Mills, making the warmest blankets in the 
world, from the wool of the California sheep. There are the 



CHINESE DINNER. 



character of the Golden State, and partly because much that I had written is 
covered by the excellent book "Beyond the Mississippi," by Albert D. Rich- 
ardson, my friend and associate for several years. The particulars of his death 
by assassination are familiar to many readers. 



28 A VEXATIOUS DELAY. 

fruit and market gardens whose products have a Brobdigna- 
gian character. There are the immense stores of wine from 
California vineyards that are already competing with those of 
France and Germany. There are — I may as well stop now, 
since I cannot tell half the story in the limits of this chapter. 

During my stay in California, I visited the principal gold, 
copper, and quicksilver mines in the state, not omitting the 
famous or infamous Mariposa tract. In company with Mr. 
Burlingame and General Van Valkenburg, our ministers to 
China and Japan, I made an excursion to the Yosemite Val- 
ley, and the Big Tree Grove. With the same gentlemen I 
went over the then completed portion of the railway which 
now unites the Atlantic with the Pacific coast, and attended 
the banquet given by the Chinese merchants of San Francisco 
to the ambassadors on the eve of their departure. A Chinese 
dinner, served with Chinese customs ; — it was a prelude to 
the Asiatic life toward which my journey led me. 

I arrived in San Francisco on the thirteenth of April and 
expected to sail for Asia within a month. One thing after 
another delayed us, until we began to fear that we should 
never get away. For more than six weeks the time of de- 
parture was kept a few clays ahead and regularly postponed. 
First, happened the failure of a contractor ; next, the non-ar- 
rival of a ship ; next, the purchase of supplies ; and so on 
through a long list of hindrances. In the beginning I was 
vexed, but soon learned complacency and gave myself no un- 
easiness. Patience is an admirable quality in mankind, and 
can be very well practiced when one is waiting for a ship to 
go to sea. 

On the twenty-third of June we were notified to be on board 
at five o'clock in the evening, and to send heavy baggage be- 
fore that hour. The vessel which was to receive us, lay two 
or three hundred yards from the wharf, in order to prevent 
the possible desertion of the crew. Punctual to the hour, I 
left the hotel and drove to the place of embarkation. My 
trunk, valise, and sundry boxes had gone in the forenoon, so 
that my only remaining effects were a satchel, a bundle of 



OUTWARD BOUND. 29 

newspapers, a dog, and a bouquet. The weight of these com- 
bined articles was of little consequence, but I positively de- 
clare that I never handled a more inconvenient lot of baggage. 
While I was descending a perpendicular ladder to a small 
boat, some one abruptly asked if that lot of baggage had been 
cleared at the custom house. Think of walking through a 
custom house with my portable property ! Happily the ques- 
tion did not come from an official. 

It required at least an hour to get everything in readiness 
after we were on board. Then followed the leave taking of 
friends who had come to see us off and utter their wishes for 
a prosperous voyage and safe return. The anchor rose slowly 
from the muddy bottom ; steam was put upon the engines, 
and the propeller whirling in the water, set us in motion. 
The gang-way steps were raised and the rail severed our con- 
nection with America. 

It was night as we glided past the hills of San Francisco, 
spangled with a thousand lights, and left them growing fainter 
in the distance. Steaming through the Golden Gate we were 
soon on the open Pacific commencing a voyage of nearly four 
thousand miles. We felt the motion of the waves and be- 
came fully aware that we were at sea. The shore grew in- 
distinct and then disappeared ; the last visible objects being 
the lights at the entrance of the bay. Gradually their rays 
grew dim, and when daylight came, there were only sky and 
water around us. 

" Far upon the unknown deep, 
With the billows circling round 
Where the tireless sea-birds sweep ; 
Outward bound. 

Nothing but a speck we seem, 
In the waste of waters round, 
Floating, floating like a dream ; 
Outward bound." 



CHAPTER II. 

THE G. S. "Wright, on •which we were embarked, was a 
screw steamer of two hundred tons burthen, a sort of 
pocket edition of the new boats of the Cunard line. She 
carried the flag and the person of Colonel Charles S. Bulkley, 
Engineer in Chief of the Russo-American Telegraph Expe- 
dition. She could sail or steam at the pleasure of her cap- 
tain, provided circumstances were favorable. Compared with 
ocean steamers in general, she was a very small affair and 
displayed a great deal of activity. She could roll or pitch to 
a disagreeable extent, and continued her motion night and 
day. I often wished the eight-hour labor system applied to 
her, but my wishing was of no use. 

Besides Colonel Bulkley, the party in the cabin consisted 
of Captain Patterson, Mr. Covert, Mr. Anossoff, and myself. 
Mr. Covert was the engineer of the steamer, and amused us 
at times with accounts of his captivity on the Alabama after 
the destruction of the Hatteras. Captain Patterson was an 
ancient mariner who had sailed the stormy seas from his boy- 
hood, beginning on a whale-ship and working his way from 
the fore-castle to the quarter deck. Mr. Anossoff was a Rus- 
sian gentleman who joined us at San Francisco, in the capacity 
of commissioner from his government to the Telegraph Com- 
pany. For our quintette there was a cabin six feet by twelve, 
and each person had a sleeping room to himself. 

Colonel Bulkley planned the cabin of the Wright, and I shall 
always consider it a misfortune that the Engineer-in-Chief 
was only five feet seven in his boots rather than sfrx feet and 
over like myself. The cabin roof was high enough for the 

(30) 



DIFFICULTIES OF SEA LIFE, 



31 



colonel, but too low for me. Under the skylight was the only 
place below deck where I could stand erect. The sleeping 
rooms were too short for me, and before I could lie at full 
length in my berth, it was necessary to pull away a partition 
near my head. The space thus gained was taken from a 
closet containing a few trifles, such as jugs of whiskey, and 
cans of powder. Fortunately no fire reached the combusti- 
bles at any time, or this book might not have appeared. 




OVEK SIX FEET. 



There was a forward cabin occupied by the chief clerk, the 
draughtsman, the interpreter, and the artist of the expedition, 
with the first and second officers of the vessel. Sailors, fire- 
men, cook and cabin boys all included, there were forty-five 
persons on board. Everybody in the complement being mas- 
culine, we did not have a single flirtation during the voyage. 

I never sailed on a more active ship than the Wright. In 
ordinary seas, walking was a matter of difficulty, and when 
the wind freshened to a gale locomotion ceased to be a pas- 
time. Frequently I wedged myself into my berth with books 
and cigar boxes. On the first day out, my dog (for I traveled 
with a dog) was utterly bewildered, and evidently thought 
himself where he did not belong. After falling a dozen times 



32 A STORM AT SEA. — A SOAPY CABIN. 

upon his side, lie succeeded in learning to keep his feet. The 
carpenter gave him a box for a sleeping room, but the space 
was so large that his body did not fill it. On the second day 
from port he took the bit of carpet that formed his bed and 
used it as a wedge to keep him in position. From that time 
he had no trouble, though he was not fairly on his sea legs 
for nearly a week. 

Sometimes at dinner our soup poured into our laps and 
seemed engaged in reconstructing the laws of gravitation. 
The table furniture was very uneasy, and it was no uncom- 
mon occurrence for a tea cup or a tumbler to jump from its 
proper place and turn a somersault before stopping. We had 
no severe storm on the voyage, though constantly in expecta- 
tion of one. 

In 1865 the Wright experienced heavy gales with little in- 
terruption for twelve days. She lost her chimney with part 
of her sails, and lay for sixteen hours in the trough of the 
sea. The waves broke over her without hindrance and 
drenched every part of the ship. Covert gave an amusing 
account of the breaking of a box of soap one night during 
the storm. In the morning the cabin, with all it contained, 
was thoroughly lathered, as if preparing for a colossal shave. 

Half way across the ocean we were followed by sea-birds 
that, curiously enough, were always thickest at meal times. 
Gulls kept with us the first two clays and then disappeared, 
their places being taken by boobies. The gull is a pretty and 
graceful bird, somewhat resembling the pigeon in shape and 
agility. The booby has a little resemblance to the duck, but 
his bill is sharp pointed and curved like a hawk's. Beechey 
and one or two others speak of encountering the Albatross in 
the North Pacific, but their statements are disputed by mari- 
ners of the present day. The Albatross is peculiar to the 
south as the gull to the north. Gulls and boobies dart into 
the water when any thing is thrown overboard, and show 
great dexterity in catching whatever is edible. At night they 
are said to sleep on the waves, and occasionally we disturbed 
them at their rest. 



CATCHING SEA-BIRDS, 



33 




A SEA-SICK BOOBY. 



One day we caught a booby by means of a hook and line, 
and found him unable to fly from the deck. It is said that 
- nearly all sea-birds can rise only from the water. We de- 
tained our prize long enough to attach a medal to his neck 
and send 
him away 
with our 
date, loca- 
tion, and 
name. If 
kept an 
hour or 
more on 
the deck 
of a ship 
these 
birds be- 
come sea- 
sick, and manifest their illness just as an able-bodied lands- 
man exhibits an attack of marine malady. Strange they 
should be so affected when they are all their lives riding over 
the tossing waves. 

About thirty miles from San Francisco are the Farralone 
Islands, a favorite resort of sea-birds. There they assemble 
in immense numbers, particularly at the commencement of 
their breeding season. 

Parties go from San Francisco to gather sea-birds eggs at 

these islands, and for some weeks they supply the market. 

\ These eggs are largely used in pastry, omelettes, and other 

things, where their character can be disguised, but they are 

far inferior to hens' eggs for ordinary uses.- 

There were no islands in any part of our course, and we 
found but a single shoal marked on the chart. We passed 
far to the north of the newly discovered Brooks Island, and 
kept southward of the Aleutian chain. Since my return to 
America I have read the account of a curious discovery on 
an island of the North Pacific. In 1816, the ship Canton, 
3 



34 SHIP CANTON. — TWO SUNDAYS IN A WEEK. 



belonging to the East India Company, sailed from Sitka and 
was supposed to have foundered at sea. Nothing was heard 
of her until 1867, when a portion of her wreck was found 

upon a coral island of the 
Sybille group. The re- 
maining timbers were in 
excellent preservation, and 
the place where the crew 
had encamped was readily- 
discernible. The frame 
of the main hatchway had 
been cast up whole, and a 
large tree was growing 
through it. The quarter 
board bearing the word 
""Canton," lay near it, and 
revealed the name of the 
lost ship. No writing or 
inscription to reveal the 
fate of her crew, could be 
found anywhere. 

On Friday, July thir- 
teenth, we crossed the me- 
ridian of 180° from London, or half around the world. We 
dropped a day from our reckoning according to the marine 
custom, and appeared in our Sunday dress on the morrow. 
Had we been sailing eastward, a day would have been added 
to our calendar. A naval officer once told me that he sailed 
eastward over this meridian on Sunday. On the following 
morning the chaplain was surprised to receive orders to hold 
divine service. He obeyed promptly, but could not under- 
stand the situation. With a puzzled look he said to an of- 
ficer — 

" This part of the ocean must be better than any other or 
we would not have Sunday so often." 

Sir Francis Drake, who sailed around the world in the time 
of Queen Elizabeth, did not observe tins rule of the navigator, 




WKECK OF THE SHIP CANTON. 



ENCOUNTERING A BIG FISH. 35 

and found on reaching England that he had a day too much. 
In the Marquesas Islands the early missionaries who came 
from the Indies made the mistake of keeping Sunday on Sat- 
urday. Their followers preserve this chronology, while later 
converts have the correct one. The result is, there are two 
Sabbaths among the Christian inhabitants of the cannibal is- 
lands. The boy who desired two Sundays a week in order 
to have more resting time, might be accommodated by be- 
coming a Marquesas colonist. 

On the day we crossed this meridian we were three hun- 
dred miles from the nearest Aleutian Islands, and about eight 
hundred from Kamchatka. 

The boobies continued around us, but were less numerous 
than a week or ten days earlier. If they had any trouble 
with their reckoning, I did not ascertain it. A day later we 
saw three "fur seal" playing happily in the water. "We 
hailed the first and asked his longitude, but he made no re- 
ply. I never knew before that the seal ventured so far from 
land. Yet his movements are as carefully governed as those 
of the sea-birds, and though many days in the open water he 
never forgets the direct course to his favorite haunts. How 
marvelous the instinct that guides with unerring certainty 
over the trackless waters ! 

A few ducks made their appearance and manifested a feel- 
ing of nostalgia. Mother Carey's chickens, little birds re- 
sembling swallows, began to flit around us, skimming closely 
along the waves. There is a fiction among the sailors that 
nobody ever saw one of these birds alight or found its nest. 
Whoever harms one is certain to bring misfortune upon him- 
self and possibly his companions. A prudent traveler would 
be careful not to offend this or any other nautical superstition. 
In case of subsequent danger the sailors might remember his 
misdeed and leave him to make his own rescue. 

Nearing the Asiatic coast we saw many whales. One after- 
noon, about cigar time, a huge fellow appeared half a mile 
distant. His blowing sounded like the exhaust of a western 
steamboat, and sent up a respectable fountain of spray. 



36 RIFLE PRACTICE AT A WHALE. 

Covert pronounced him a high pressure affair, with hori- 
zontal engines and carrying ninety pounds to the inch. 

After sporting awhile in the misty distance, the whale came 
near us. It was almost calm and we could see him without 
glasses. He rose and disappeared at intervals of a minute, 
and as he moved along he rippled the surface like a subsoil 
plough on a gigantic scale. After ten or twelve small dives, 
he threw his tail in air and went down for ten minutes or 
more. When he reappeared he was two or three hundred 
yards from his diving place. 

Once he disappeared in this way and came up within ten 
feet of our bows. Had he risen beneath us the shock would 
have been severe for both ship and whale. After this ma- 
noeuvre he went leisurely around us, keeping about a hundred 
yards away. 

" He is working his engines on the slow bell," said our 
engineer, " and keeps his helm hard-a-port." 

We brought out our rifles to try this new game, though the 
practice was as much a trial of skill as the traditional ' barn 
at ten paces.' Several shots were fired, but I did not see 
any thing drop. The sport was amusing to all concerned ; 
at any rate the whale didn't seem to mind it, and we were 
delighted at the fun. When his survey was finished he braced 
his helm to starboard, opened his throttle valves and went 
away to windward. 

We estimated his length at a hundred and twenty feet, and 
thought he might register ' A 1,' at the proper office. Cap- 
tain Patterson called him a ' bow head,' good for a hundred 
barrels of oil and a large quantity of bone. The Colonel 
proposed engaging him to tow us into port. Covert wished 
his blubber piled in our coal bunkers ; the artist sketchy 
him, and the draughtsman thought of putting him on a Ml 
cator's projection. For my part I have written the little I 
know of his life and experiences, but it is very little. I can- 
not even say where he lodges, whose hats he wears, when his 
notes fall due, or whether he ever took a cobbler or the 
whooping cough. 



INSTINCT OF THE DOG. 



8T 



Of course this incident led to stories concerning whales. 
Captain Patterson told about the destruction of the ship Es- 
sex by a sperm whale thirty or more years ago. The Colonel 
described the whale fishery as practiced by the Kamchadales 
and Aleutians. These natives have harpoons with short lines 




ALEUTIANS CATCHING WHALES. 



to which they attach bladders or skin bags filled with air. A 
great many boats surround a whale and stick him with as 
many harpoons as possible. If successful, they will so en- 
cumber him that his strength is not equal to the buoyancy of 
the bladders, and in this condition he is finished with a lance. 
A great feast is sure to follow his capture, and every interested 
native indulges in whale-steak to his stomach's content. 

The day before we came in sight of land, my dog repeat- 
edly placed his fore feet upon the rail and sniffed the wind 



OO WONDERS OP NAVIGATION. 

blowing from the coast. His inhalations were long and 
earnest, like those of a tobacco smoking Comanche. In her 
previous voyage the Wright carried a mastiif answering to 
the name of Rover. The colonel said that whenever they 
approached land, though long before it was in sight, Rover 
would put his paws on the bulwarks and direct his nose toward 
the shore. His demonstrations were invariably accurate, and 
showed him to possess the instinct of a pilot, whatever his 
lack of training. He did not enjoy the ocean and was always 
delighted to see land. 

In 1865 an Esquimaux dog was domiciled on the barque 
Golden Gate, on her voyage from Norton Sound to Kamchatka. 
He ran in all parts of the vessel, and made himself agreeable 
to every one on board. At Petropavlovsk a Kamchadale dog 
became a passenger for San Francisco. Immediately on 
being loosed he took possession aft and drove the Esquimaux 
forward. During the whole passage he retained his place on 
the quarter deck and in the cabin. Occasionally he went 
forward for a promenade, but he never allowed the other dog 
to go abaft the mainmast. The Esquimaux endeavored to 
establish amicable relations, but the Kamchadale rejected all 
friendly overtures. 

I heard of a dog on one of the Honolulu packets that took 
his turn at duty with the regularity of a sailor, coming on 
deck when his watch was called and retiring with it to the 
forecastle. When the sails flapped from any cause and the 
clouds indicated a sudden shower, the dog gave warning with 
a bark — on the sea. I ventured to ask my informant if the 
animal stood the dog watch, but the question did not receive 
a definite answer. 

What a wonderful thing is the science of navigation. One 
measures the sun's height at meridian ; looks at a chronome- 
ter ; consults a book of mystical figures ; makes a little slate 
work like a school-boy's problem ; and he knows his position 
at sea. Twelve o'clock, if there be neither fog nor cloud, is 
the most important hour of a nautical day. A few minutes 
before noon the captain is on deck with his quadrant. The 



FIRST VIEW OF KAMCHATKA. 39 

first officer is similarly provided, as he is supposed to keep a 
log and practice-book of his own. Ambitious students of 
navigation are sure to appear at that time. On the Wright 
we turned out four instruments, with twice as many hands to 
hold them. A minute before twelve, contieuere mines. 

" Eight bells." 

" Eight bells, sir." 

The four instruments are briefly fixed on the sun and the 
horizon, the readings of the scale are noted, and the quartette 
descend to the practice of mathematics. A few minutes later 
we have the result. 

" Latitude 52° 8' North, Longitude 1 61° 14' East. Distance 
in last twenty-four hours two hundred forty-six miles." 

The chart is unrolled, and a few measurements with divid- 
ers, rule and pencil, end in the registry of our exact position. 
Unlike the countryman on Broadway or a doubting politician 
the day before election, we do know where we are. The com- 
pass, the chronometer, the quadrant; what would be the 
watery world without them ! 

On the twenty-fourth of July we were just a month at sea. 
In all that time we had spoken no ship nor had any glimpse 
of land, unless I except a trifle in a flower pot. The captain 
made his reckoning at noon, and added to the reading — 

" Seventy-five miles from the entrance of Avatcha Bay. 
We ought to see land before sunset." 

About four in the afternoon we discovered the coast just 
where the captain said we should find it. The mountains 
that serve to guide one toward Avatcha Bay were exactly in 
the direction marked on our chart. To all appearances we 
were not a furlong from our estimated position. How easily 
may the navigator's art appear like magic to the ignorant and 
superstitious. 

The breeze was light, and we stood in very slowly toward 
the shore. By sunset we could see the full outline of the 
coast of Kamchatka for a distance of fifty or sixty miles. 
The general coast line formed the concavity of a small arc 
of a circle. As it was too late to enter before dark, and we 



40 A VERDANT LIGHT-KEEPER. 

did not expect the light would be burning, we furled all our 
sails and lay to until morning. 

By daybreak we were under steam, and at five o'clock I came 
on deck to make my first acquaintance with Asia. We were 
about twenty miles from the shore, and the general appear- 
ance of the land reminded me of the Rocky Mountains from 
Denver or the Sierra Nevadas from the vicinity of Stockton. 
On the north of the horizon was a group of four or five 
mountains, while directly in front there were three separate 
peaks, of which one was volcanic. Most of these mountains 
were conical and sharp, and although it was July, nearly 
every summit was covered with snow. Between and among 
these high peaks there were many smaller mountains, but no 
less steep and pointed. As one sees it from the ocean, Kam- 
chatka appears more like a desolate than a habitable country. 

It requires very good eyesight to discover the entrance of 
Avatcha Bay at a distance of eight or ten miles, but the land- 
marks are of such excellent character that one can approach 
without hesitation. The passage is more than a mile wide. 
Guarding it on the right is a hill nearly three hundred feet 
high, and standing almost perpendicular above the water. 
At the left is a rock of lesser height, terminating a tongue or 
ridge of land. On the hill is a light-house and signal station 
with a flag staff. Formerly the light was only exhibited when 
a ship was expected or seen, but in 1866, orders were given for 
its maintainance every night during the summer months. 

Years ago, on the coast of New Hampshire, a man from 
the interior was appointed light keeper. The day he assumed 
his position was his first on the sea-shore. Yery soon there 
were complaints that his lights did not burn after midnight. 
On being called to account by his superior, he explained — 

" Well, I thought all the ships ought to be in by midnight, 
and I wanted to save the ile." 



CHAPTER III. 

AS one leaves the Pacific and enters Avatcha Bay he 
passes high rocks and cliffs, washed at their base by 
the waves. The loud-sounding ocean working steadily against 
the solid walls, has worn caverns and dark passages, haunted 
by thousands of screaming and fluttering sea-birds. The 
bay is circular and about twenty miles in diameter ; except 
at the place of entrance it is enclosed with hills and moun- 
tains that give it the appearance of a highland lake. All 
over it there is excellent anchorage for ships of every class, 
while around its sides are several little harbors, like minia- 
ture copies of the bay. 

At Petropavlovsk we hoped to find the Russian ship of war, 
Yariag, and the barque Clara Bell, which sailed from San 
Francisco six weeks before us. As we entered the bay, all 
eyes were turned toward the little harbor. " There is the 
Russian," said three or four voices at once, as the tall masts 
and wide spars of a corvette came in sight. " The Clara 
Bell, the Clara Bell — no, it's a brig," was our exclamation at 
the appearance of a vessel behind the Yariag. 

" There's another, a barque certainly, — no, it's a brig, too," 
uttered the colonel with an emphasis of disgust. Evidently 
his barque was on the sea. 

Rounding the shoal we moved toward the fort, the Russian 
corvette greeting us with "Hail Columbia" out of compli- 
ment to our nationality. We carried the American flag at 
the quarter and the Russian naval ensign at the fore as a 
courtesy to the ship that awaited us. As we cast anchor just 
outside the little inner harbor, the Russian band continued 

(41) 



42 A PICTURE OF KAMCHATKA. 

playing Hail Columbia, but our engineer played the mischief 
with the music by letting off steam. As soon as we were at 
rest a boat from the corvette touched our side, and a subor- 
dinate officer announced that his captain would speedily visit 
us. Very soon came the Captain of The Port or Collector 
of Customs, and after him the American merchants residing 
in the town. Our gangway which we closed at San Francisco 
was now opened, and we once more communicated with the 
world. 

Petropavlovsk (Port of Saints Peter and Paul) is situated 
in lat. 53° 1' North, long. 158° 43' East, and is the principal 
place in Kamchatka. It stands on the side of a hill sloping 
into the northern shore of Avatcha Bay, or rather into a lit- 
tle harbor opening into the bay. Fronting this harbor is a 
long peninsula that hides the town from all parts of the bay 
except those near the sea. The harbor is well sheltered from 
winds and furnishes excellent anchorage. It is divided into 
an inner and an outer harbor by means of a sand spit that 
extends from the main land toward the peninsula, leaving an 
opening about three hundred yards in width. The inner 
harbor is a neat little basin about a thousand yards in diame- 
ter and nearly circular in shape. 

Some of the mountains that serve as landmarks to the ap- 
proaching -mariner, are visible from the town, and others can 
be seen by climbing the hills in the vicinity. Wuluchinski is 
to the southward and not volcanic, while Avatcha and Kori- 
anski, to the north and east, were smoking with a dignified 
air, like a pair of Turks after a champagne supper. Erup- 
tions of these volcanoes occur every few years, and during 
the most violent ones ashes and stones are thrown to a con- 
siderable distance. Captain King witnessed an eruption of 
Avatcha in 1779, and says that stones fell at Petropavlovsk, 
twenty-five miles away, and the ashes covered the deck of his 
ship. Mr. Pierce, an old resident of Kamchatka, gave me a 
graphic description of an eruption in 1861. It was preceded 
by an earthquake, which overturned crockery on the tables, 



ETIQUETTE AT PETEOPAYLOTSK, 



43 



and demolished several ovens. For a week or more earth- 
quakes of a less violent character occurred hourly. 

Besides the Yariag we found in port the Russian brig 
Poorga and the Prussian brig Danzig, the latter having an 
American captain, crew, hull, masts, and rigging. Two old 
hulks were rotting in the mud, and an unseaworthy schooner 
lay on the beach with one side turned upward as if in agony. 
" There be land rats and water rats," according to Shak- 
speare. Some of the latter dwelt in this bluff-bowed schooner 
and peered curiously from the crevices in her sides. 

The majority 
of our visitors 
made their calls 
very brief. After 
their departure, 
I went on shore 
with Mr. Hunter, 
an American res- 
i d e n t of Petro- 
pavlovsk. In 
every house I vis- 
ited I was pressed 
to take petnatzet 
copla (fifteen 
drops,) the uni- 
versal name there 
for something 
stimulating. The 
drops might be 
American 

whisky, French brandy, Dutch gin, or Russian vodka. David 
Crockett said a true gentleman is one who turns his back 
while you pour whisky into your tumbler. The etiquette of 
Kamchatka does not permit the host to count the drops taken 
by his guest. 

Take a log village in the backwoods of Michigan or Min- 
nesota, and transport it to a quiet spot by a well sheltered 




BREACH OF ETIQUETTE. 



44 A KAMCHADALE WEDDING. 

harbor of Lilliputian size. Cover the roofs of some buildings 
with iron, shingles or boards from other regions. Cover the 
balance with thatch of long grass, and erect chimneys that 
just peer above the ridge poles. Scatter these buildings on 
a hillside next the water ; arrange three-fourths of them in 
a single street, and leave the rest to drop wherever they like. 
Of course those in the higgledy-piggledy position must be of 
the poorest class, but you can make a few exceptions. 
Whitewash the inner walls of half the buildings, and use 
paper or cloth to hide the nakedness of the other half. 

This will make a fair counterfeit of Petropavlovsk. In- 
side each house place a brick stove or oven, four or five feet 
square and six feet high. Locate this stove to present a side 
to each of two or three rooms. In each side make an aper- 
ture two inches square that can be opened or closed at will. 
The amount of heat to warm the rooms is regulated by 
means of the apertures. 

Furnish the houses with plain chairs, tables, and an oc- 
casional but rare piano. Make the doors very low and the 
entries narrow. Put a picture of a saint in the principal 
room of every house, and adorn the walls with a few engrav- 
ings. Make a garden near each house, and let a few miscel- 
laneous gardens cling to the hillside and strive to climb it. 
Don't forget to build a church, or you will fail to represent a 
Russian town. 

Petropavlovsk has no vehicle of any kind except a single 
hand cart. Consequently the street is not gashed with wheel 
ruts. 

v'e were invited to ' assist' at a wedding that happened 
in the evening after our arrival. The ceremony was to begin 
at five o'clock, and was a double affair, two sisters being the 
brides. A Russian wedding requires a master of ceremonies 
to look after the affair from beginning to end. I was told it 
was the custom in Siberia (but not in European Russia) for 
this person to pay all expenses of the wedding, including the 
indispensable dinner and its fixtures. Such a position is not 
to be desired by a man of limited cash, especially if the lead- 



DISCOMFORTS OP A WEDDING. 



45 



ing characters are inclined to extravagance. Think of being 
the conductor of a diamond wedding in New York or Boston, 
and then paying the bills ! 

The steward of the Variag told me he was invited to con- 
du c t a 
weddi n g 
shortly 
after his 
arrival at 
Petro- 
pavlovsk. 
Thinking 
it an hon- 
o r of 
which he 
would 
hereafter 
be proud, 
he a c- 
cepte d 
the invi- 
tation. Much to his surprise on the next day he was required 
to pay the cost of the entertainment. 

The master of ceremonies of the wedding under considera- 
tion was Mr. Phillipeus, a Russian gentleman engaged in 
the fur trade. The father of the brides was his customer, 
and doubtless the cost of the wedding was made up in sub- 
sequent dealings. As the party emerged from the house and 
moved toward the church, I could see that Phillipeus was 
the central figure. He had a bride on each arm, and each 
bride was clinging to her prospective husband. The women 
were in white and the men in holiday dress. 

Behind the front rank were a dozen or more groomsmen 
and bridesmaids. Behind these were the members of the 
families and the invited relatives, so that the cortege stretched 
to a considerable length. Each of the groomsmen wore a 
bow of colored ribbon on his left arm and a smaller one in 




UNEXPECTED HONORS. 



46 WEDDING CEKEMONY. 

the button hole. The children of the families — quite a troop 
of juveniles — brought up the rear. 

The church is of logs, like the other buildings. It is old, 
unpainted, and shaped like a cross, lacking one of the arms. 
The doors are large and clumsy, and the entrance is through 
a vestibule or hall. The roof had been recently painted a 
brilliant red at the expense of the Variag's officers. On the 
inside, the church has an antiquated appearance, but presents 
such an air of solidity as if inviting the earthquakes to come 
and see it. 

There were no seats in the building, nor are there seats of 
any kind in the edifices of the same character in any part of 
Russia. It is the theory of the Eastern Church that all are 
equal before God. In His service no distinction is made ; 
autocrat and subject, noble and peasant, stand or kneel in the 
same manner while worshipping at His altars. 

As we entered, we found the wedding party standing in 
the center of the church ; the spectators were grouped nearer 
the door, the ladies occupying the front. With the ther- 
mometer at seventy-two, I found the upright position a fatigu- 
ing one, and would have been glad to send for a camp stool. 
Colonel Bulkley had undertaken to escort a lady, and as he 
stood in a conspicuous place, his uniform buttoned to the 
very chin and the perspiration pouring from his face, the cere- 
mony appeared to have little charm for him. 

The service began under the direction of two priests, each 
dressed in a long robe extending to his feet, and wearing a 
chapeau like a bell-crowned hat without a brim. " The short 
one," said a friend near me, pointing to a little, round, fat, 
oily man of God, " will get very drunk when he has the op- 
portunity. Watch him to-night and see how he leaves the 
dinner party." 

Priests of the Greek Church wear their hair very long, 
frequently below the shoulders, and parted in the middle, and 
do not shave the beard. Unlike those of the Catholic Church, 
they marry and have homes and families, engaging in secular 
occupations which do not interfere with their religious duties. 



MATRIMONY FOR A POPE. 



47 



During the evening after the wedding, I was introduced to 
"the pope's wife;" and learned that Russian priests are 
called popes. As the only pope then familiar to my thoughts 
is considered very much a bachelor, I was rather taken aback 
at this bit of information. The drink-loving priest was head 
of a goodly sized family, and resided in a comfortable and 
well furnished dwelling. 




RUSSIAN MARRIAGE. 



At the wedding there was much recitation by the priests, 
reading from the ritual of the Church, swinging of censers, 
singing by the chorus of male voices, chanting and intona- 
tion, and responses by the victims. There were frequent 
signs of the cross with bowing or kneeling. A ring was used, 
and afterwards two crowns were held over the heads of the 
bride and bridegroom. The fatigue of holding these crowns 
was considerable, and required that those who performed the 
service should be relieved once by other bridesmen. After a 



48 EUSSIAN LAMPS .AND TAPERS. 

time the crowns were placed on the heads they had been held 
over. Wearing these crowns and preceded by the priests, the 
pair walked three times round the altar in memory of the 
Holy Trinity, while a portion of the service was chanted. 
Then the crowns were removed and kissed by each of the 
marrying pair, the bridegroom first performing the osculation. 
A cup of water was held by the priest, first to the bridegroom 
and then to the bride, each of whom drank a small portion. 
After this the first couple retired to a little chapel and the 
second passed through the ordeal. The preliminary cere- 
mony occupied about twenty minutes, and the same time was 
consumed by each couple. 

There is no divorce in Russia, so that the union was one 
for life till death. Before the parties left the church they re- 
ceived congratulations. There was much hand-shaking, and 
among the women there were decorous kisses. Our party 
regretted that the custom of bride kissing as practiced in 
America does not prevail in Kamchatka. 

When the affair was ended, the whole cortege returned to 
the house whence it came, the children carrying pictures of 
the Virgin and saints, and holding lighted candles before 
them. The employment of lamps and tapers is universal in 
the Russian churches, the little flame being a representation 
of spiritual existence and a symbol of the continued life of 
the soul. The Russians have adapted this idea so completely 
that there is no marriage, betrothal, consecration, or burial, 
in fact no religious ceremony whatever without the use of 
lamp or taper. 

In the house of every adherent to the orthodox Russian 
faith there is a picture of the Virgin or a saint ; sometimes 
holy pictures are in every room of the house. I have seen 
them in the cabins of steamboats, and in tents and other 
temporary structures. No Russian enters a dwelling, however 
humble, without removing his hat, out of respect to the holy 
pictures, and this custom extends to shops, hotels, in fact to 
every place where people dwell or transact business. During 
the earlier part of my travels in Russia, I was unaware of 
this custom, and fear that I sometimes offended it. 



THE POPE AT DINNER. 49 

I have been told that superstitious thieves hang veils or 
kerchiefs before the picture in rooms where they depredate. 
Enthusiastic lovers occasionally observe the same precaution. 
Only the eyes of the image need be covered, and secrecy may 
be obtained by turning the picture to the wall. 
■ The evening began with a reception and congratulations to 
the married couples. Then we had tea and cakes, and then 
came the dinner. The party was like the African giant im- 
ported in two ships, for it was found impossible to crowd all 
the guests into one house. Tables were set in two houses 
and in the open yard between them. 

The Russians have a custom of taking a little lunch just 
before they begin dinner. This lunch is upon a side table in 
the dining room, and consists of cordial, spirits or bitters, 
with morsels of herring, caviar, and dried meat or fish. It 
performs the same office as the American cocktail, but is 
oftener taken, is more popular and more respectable. After 
the lunch we sat down to dinner. Fish formed the first 
course and soup the second. Then we had roast beef and 
vegetables, followed by veal cutlets. The feast closed with 
cake and jelly, and was thoroughly washed down with a 
dozen kinds of beverages that cheer and inebriate. 

The fat priest was at table and took his lunch early. His 
first course was a glass of something liquid, and he drank a 
dozen times before the soup was brought. Early in the din- 
ner I saw him gesturing toward me. 

" He wants to take a glass with you," said some one at my 
side. 

I poured out some wine, and after a little trouble in touch- 
ing glasses we drank each other's health. 

Not five minutes later he repeated his gestures. To satisfy 
him I filled a glass with sherry, as there was no champagne 
handy at the moment, and again went through the clinking 
process. As my glass was large I put it down after sipping 
a few drops, but the old fellow objected. Draining and invert- 
ing his glass, he held it as one might suspend a rat by the 
tail, and motioned me to do the same. Luckily he soon after 
conceived a fondness for one of the Wright's officers, and the 
twain fell to drinking. The officer, assisted by three men, 

4 



50 



WE won't go home 'till morning. 



went on board late at night, and was reported attempting to 
wasli his face in a tar-bucket and dry it with a chain cable. 
About midnight the priest was taken home on a shutter. 




RUSSIAN POPE AT HOME. 



There were toasts in a large number, with a great deal of 
cheering, drinking, and smoking. About ten o'clock the din- 
ner ended, and arrangements were made for a dance. Danc- 
ing was not among my accomplishments, and I retired to the 
ship, satisfied that on my first day in Asia I had been treated 
very kindly — and very often. 

For two days more the wedding festivities continued, eti- 
quette requiring the parties to visit all who attended the din- 
ner. Gn the third day the hilarity ceased, and the happy 
couples were left to enjoy the honeymoon with its promise of 
matrimonial bliss. May they have many years of it. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE name of Kamchatka is generally associated with 
snow-fields, glaciers, frozen mountains, and ice-bound 
shores. Its winters are long and severe ; snow falls to a 
great depth, and ice attains a thickness proportioned to the 
climate. But the summers, though short, are sufficiently hot 
to make up for the cold of winter. Vegetation is wonder- 
fully rapid, the grasses, trees and plants growing as much in 
a hundred days as in six months of a New England summer. 
Hardly has the snow disappeared before the trees put forth 
their buds and blossoms, and the hillsides are in all the ver- 
dure of an American spring. Men tell me they have seen in 
a single week the snows disappear, ice break in the streams, 
the grass spring up, and the trees beginning to bud. Nature 
adapts herself to all her conditions. In the Arctic as in the 
Torrid zone she fixes her compensations and makes her laws 
for the best good of her children. 

It was midsummer when we reached Kamchatka, and the 
heat was like that of August in Richmond or Baltimore. 
The thermometer ranged from sixty-five to eighty. Long 
walks on land were out of question, unless one possessed the 
power of a salamander. The shore of the bay was the best 
place for a promenade, and we amused ourselves watching 
the salmon fishers at work. 

Salmon form the principal food of the Eamchadales and 
their dogs. The fishing season in Avatcha Bay lasts about 
six weeks, and at its close the salmon leave the bay and as- 
cend the streams, where they are caught by the interior na- 
tives. In the bay they are taken in seines dragged along the 

(51) 



52 



FISH IN KAMCHATKA. 



shore, and the number of fish caught annually is almost be- 
yond computation. 

Some years ago the fishery failed, and more than half the 
dogs in Kamchatka starved. The following year there was 
a bountiful supply, which the priests of Petropavlovsk com- 
memorated by erecting a cross near the entrance of the har- 
bor. The supply is always larger after a scarcity than in 
ordinary seasons. 

The fish designed for preservation are split and dried in 
the sun. The odor of a fish drying establishment reminded 
me of the smells in certain quarters of New York in summer, 
or of Cairo, Illinois, after an unusual flood has subsided. 
One of our officers said he counted three hundred and twenty 
distinct and different smells in walking half a mile. 

In 1865 one of the merchants started the enterprise of 
curing salmon for the Sandwich Island market. He told me 
he paid three roubles, (about three greenback dollars,) a hun- 
dred (in number) 
for the fresh fish, 
delivered at his 
establishment. 
Evidently he 
found the specu- 
lation profitable, 
as he repeated it 
the following year. 
When the sal- 
mon ascend the 
rivers they furnish 
food to men and 
animals. The 
natives catch 
them in nets and 
with spears, while 
dogs, bears, and wolves use their teeth in fishing. Bears are 
expert in this amusement, and where their game is plenty 
they eat only the heads and backs. The fish are very abun- 




A SCALY BEIDGE. 



A FISH STOEY. — A RUSSIAN TEA-PARTY. 53 

dant in the rivers, and no great skill is required in their cap- 
ture. Men with an air of veracity told me they had seen 
streams in the interior of Kamchatka so filled with salmon 
that one could cross on them as on a corduroy bridge ! The 
story has a piscatorial sound, but it may be true. 

House gardening on a limited scale is the principal agri- 
culture of Kamchatka. Fifty years ago, Admiral Eicord in- 
troduced the cultivation of rye, wheat, and barley with con- 
siderable success, but the inhabitants do not take kindly to 
it. The government brings rye flour from the Amoor river 
and sells it to the people at cost, and in case of distress it 
issues rations from its magazines. 

When I asked why there was no culture of grain in Kam- 
chatka, they replied : " What is the necessity of it ? We 
can buy it at cost of the government, and need not trouble 
ourselves about making our own flour." 

There is not a sawmill on the peninsula. Boards and 
plank are cut by hand or brought from California. I slept 
two nights in a room ceiled with red-wood and pine from San 
Francisco. 

On my second evening in Asia I passed several hours at 
the governor's house. The party talked, smoked, and drank 
tea until midnight, and then closed the entertainment with a 
substantial supper. An interesting and novel feature of the 
affair was the Russian manner of making tea. The infusion 
had a better flavor than any I had previously drank. This is 
due partly to the superior quality of the leaf, and partly to 
the manner of its preparation. 

The " samovar" or tea-urn is an indispensable article in a 
Russian household, and is found in nearly every dwelling 
from the Baltic to Bering's Sea. " Samovar" comes from 
two Greek words, meaning ' to boil itself.' The article is 
nothing but a portable furnace ; a brazen urn with a cylinder 
two or three inches in diameter passing through it from top 
to bottom. The cylinder being filled with coals, the water in 
the urn is quickly heated, and remains boiling hot as long as 
the fire continues. An imperial order abolishing samovars 



54 



HOW TO MAKE TEA, 



throughout all the Russias, would produce more sorrow and 
indignation than the expulsion of roast beef from the English 
bill of fare. The number of cups it will contain is the meas- 
ure of a samovar. 

Tea pots are of porcelain or earthenware. The tea pot is 
rinsed and warmed with hot water before receiving the dry 
leaf. Boiling water is poured upon the tea, and when the 
pot is full it is placed on the top of the samovar. There it 
is kept hot but not boiled, and in five or six minutes the tea 
is ready. Cups and saucers are not employed by the Russians, 

but tumblers are gen- 
erally used for tea 
drinking, and in the 
best houses, where it 
can be afforded, they 
are held in silver sock- 
ets like those in soda 
shops . Only loaf sugar 
is used in sweetening 
tea. When lemons 
can be had they are 
employed to give fla- 
vor, a thin slice, nei- 
ther rolled nor press- 
ed, being floated on 
the surface of the tea. 
The Russians take 
tea in the morning, after dinner, after lunch, before bed-time, 
in the evening, at odd intervals in the day or night, and they 
drink a great deal of it between drinks. 

In rambling about Petropavlovsk I found the hills covered 
with luxuriant grass, sometimes reaching to my knees. Two 
or three miles inland the grass was waist high on ground 
covered with snow six weeks before. Among the flowers I 
recognized the violet and larkspur, the former in great abun- 
dance. Earlier in the summer the hills were literally carpeted 
with flowers. I could not learn that any skilled botanist had 




RUSSIAN TEA SERVICE. 



RUSSIAN AND FOREIGN TRADERS. 00 

ever visited Kamchatka and classified its flora. Among the 
arboreal productions the alder and birch were the most nu- 
merous. Pine, larch, and spruce grow on the Kamchatka 
river, and the timber from them is brought to Avatcha from 
the mouth of that stream. 

The commercial value of Kamchatka is entirely in its fur 
trade. The peninsula has no agricultural, manufacturing, or 
mining interest, and were it not for the animals that lend 
their skins to keep us warm, the merchant would find no 
charms in that region. The fur coming from Kamchatka 
was the cause of the Russian discovery and conquest. For 
many years the trade was conducted by individual merchants 
from Siberia. The Russian American Company attempted to 
control it early in the present century, and drove many com- 
petitors from the fields. It received the most determined 
opposition from American merchants, and in 1860 it aban- 
doned Petropavlovsk, its business there being profitless. 

In 1866 I found the fur trade of Kamchatka in the control 
of three merchants : W. H. Boardman, of Boston, J. W. 
Fluger, of Hamburg, and Alexander Phillipeus, of St. Peters- 
burg. All of them had houses in Petropavlovsk, and each 
had from one to half a dozen agencies or branches elsewhere. 
To judge by appearances, Mr. Boardman had the lion's share 
of the trade. This gentleman's father began the Northwest 
traffic sometime in the last century, and left it as an inherit- 
ance about 1828. His son continued the business until bought 
off by the Hudson Bay Company, when he turned his atten- 
tion to Kamchatka. Personally he has never visited the 
Pacific Ocean. 

Mr. Fluger had been only two years in Kamchatka, and 
was doing a miscellaneous business. Boardman's agent con- 
fined himself to the fur trade, but Fluger was up to anything. 
He salted salmon for market, sent a schooner every year into 
the Arctic Ocean for walrus teeth and mammoth tusks, bought 
furs, sold goods, kept a dog team, was attentive to the ladies, 
and would have run for Congress had it been possible. He 
had in his store about half a cord of walrus teeth piled against 
a back entrance like stove wood. 



56 



A NEW KIND OP LEGAL TENDER. 



Phillipeus was a roving blade. He kept an agent at Petro- 
pavlovsk and came there in person once a year. In February- 
he left St. Petersburg for London, whence he took the Red 
Sea route to Japan. There he chartered a brig to visit Kam- 
chatka and land him at Ay an, on the Ohotsk Sea. From 
Ayan he went to Yakutsk, and from that place through Ir- 
kutsk to St. Petersburg, where he arrived about three hun- 
dred and fifty days after his departure. I met him in the 
Russian capital just as he had completed the sixth journey 
of this kind and was about to commence the seventh. If he 
were a Jew he should be called the wandering Jew. 

Trade is conducted on the barter principle, furs being low 
and goods high. The risks are great, transport is costly, and 

money is a long time 
invested before it re- 
turns . The palmy 
days of the fur trade 
are over ; the product 
has greatly diminish- 
ed, and competition 
has reduced the per- 
centage of profit on 
the little that remains. 
There was a time 
in the memory of man when furs 
formed the currency of Kamchatka. 
Their employment as cash is not 
unknown at present, although Rus- 
sian money is in general circulation. 
There is a story of a traveler who 
paid his hotel bill in a country town 
in Minnesota and received a beaver skin in change. The 
landlord explained that it was legal tender for a dollar. 
Concealing this novel cash under his coat, the traveler saun- 
tered into a neighboring store. 

" Is it true," he asked carelessly, " that a beaver skin is 
legal tender for a dollar ? " 




CHANGE FOR A DOLLAR 



EXTENT OP THE FUG TRADE. 57' 

" Yes, sir," said the merchant ; " anybody will take it." 

" Will you be so kind, then," was the traveler's request, 
"as to give me change for a dollar bill ? " 

" Certainly," answered the merchant, taking the beaver 
skin and returning four muskrat skins, current at twenty-five 
cents each. 

The sable is the principal fur sought by the merchants in 
Kamchatka, or trapped by the natives. The animal is caught 
in a variety of ways, man's ingenuity being taxed to capture 
him. The ' yessak,' or ' poll-tax ' of the natives is payable in 
sable fur, at the rate of a skin for every four persons. The 
governor makes a yearly journey through the peninsula to 
collect the tax, and is supposed to visit all the villages. The 
merchants go and do likewise for trading purposes. 

Mr. George S. Cushing, who was long the agent of Mr. 
Boardman in Kamchatka, estimated the product of sable fur 
at about six thousand skins annually. Sometimes it exceeds 
and sometimes falls below that figure. About a thousand 
foxes, a few sea otters and silver foxes, and a good many 
bears, may be added, more for number than value. Silver 
foxes and otters are scarce, while common foxes and bears 
are of little account. A black fox is worth a great deal of 
money, but one may find a white crow almost as readily. 

Bears are abundant, but their skins are not articles of ex- 
port. The beasts are brown or black, and grow to a disa- 
greeable size. Bear hunting is an amusement of the country, 
very pleasant and exciting until the bear turns and becomes 
the hunter. Then there is no fun in it, if he succeeds in his 
pursuit. A gentleman in Kamchatka gave me a bearskin 
more than six feet long, and declared that it was not unus- 
ually large. I am very glad there was no live bear in it when 
it came into my possession. 

There is a story of a man in California who followed the 
track of a grizzly bear a day and a half. He abandoned it 
because, as he explained, " it was getting a little too fresh." 

One day, about two years before my visit, a cow suddenly 
entered Petropavlovsk with a live bear on her back. The 



58 BEAK HUNTING IN SIBERIA. 

bear escaped unhurt, leaving the cow pretty well scratched. 
After that event she preferred to graze in or near the town, 
and never brought home another bear. 




COW AND BEAR. 



Kamchatka without dogs would be like Hamlet without 
Hamlet. While crossing the Pacific my compagnons du voy- 
age made many suggestions touching my first experience in 
Kamchatka. " You won't sleep any the first night in port. 
The dogs will howl you out of your seven senses." This was 
the frequent remark of the engineer, corroborated by others. 
On arriving, we were disappointed to find less than a hundred 
dogs at Petropavlovsk, as the rest of the canines belonging 



PECULIAEITIES OF DOGS. 59 

there were spending vacation in the country. About fifteen 
hundred were owned in the town. 

Very few Kamchadale dogs can bark, but they will howl 
oftener, longer, and louder than any ' yaller dog ' that ever 
went to a cur pound or became sausage meat. The few in 
Petropavlovsk made much of their ability, and were especially 
vocal at sunset, near their feeding time. Occasionally during 
the night they try their throats and keep up a hailing and 
answering chorus, calculated to draw a great many oaths 
from profane strangers. 

In 1865 Colonel Bulkley carried one of these animals to 
California. The dog lifted up his voice on the waters very 
often, and received a great deal of rope's ending in conse- 
quence. At San Francisco Mr. Covert took him home, and 
attempted his domestication. ' Norcum,' (for that was the 
brute's name,) created an enmity between Covert and all 
who lived within hearing distance, and many were the threats 
of canicide. Covert used to rise two or three times every 
night and argue, with a club, to induce Norcum to be silent. 
While I was at San Francisco, Mr. Mumford, one of the Tele- 
graph Company's directors, conceived a fondness for the dog, 
and took him to the Occidental Hotel. 

On the first day of his hotel life we tied Norcum on the 
balcony in front of Mumford' s room, about forty feet from 
the ground. Scarcely had we gone to dinner when he jumped 
from the balcony and hung by his chain, with his hind feet 
resting upon a cornice. 

A howling wilderness is nothing to the noise he made be- 
fore his rescue, and he gathered and amused a large crowd 
with his performance. He passed the night in the western 
basement of the hotel, and spoiled the sleep of a dozen or 
more persons who lodged near him. When we left San Fran- 
cisco, Norcum was residing in the baggage-room at the Occi- 
dental, under special care of the porters, who employed a 
great deal of muscle in teaching him that silence was a golden 
virtue. 

The Kamchadale dogs are of the same breed as those used 



60 



WINTER TRAVEL IN KAMCHATKA. 



by the Esquimaux, but are said to possess more strength and 
endurance. The best Asiatic dogs are among the Koriaks, 
near Penjiusk Gulf, the difference being due to climate and 
the care taken in breeding them. Dogs are the sole reliance 




A KAMCHATKA TEAM. 



for winter travel in Kamchatka, and 
every resident considers it his duty 
to own a team. They are driven in 
odd numbers, all the way from three 
to twenty-one. The most intelligent 
and best trained dog acts as a leader, the others being har- 
nessed in pairs. No reins are used, the voice of the driver 
being sufficient to guide them. 

Dogs are fed almost entirely upon fish. They receive their 
rations daily at sunset, and it is always desirable that each 
driver should feed his own team. The day before starting on 
a journey, the dog receives a half ration only, and he is kept 
on this slender diet as long as the journey lasts. Sometimes 
when hungry they gnaw their reindeer skin harnesses, and 
sometimes they do it as a pastime. Once formed, the habit 
is not easy to break. 



TRAVELING WITH SLEDGES. 61 

Two kinds of sledges are used, one for travel and the other 
for transporting freight. The former is light and just large 
enough for one person with a little baggage. The driver sits 
with his feet hanging over the side, and clings to a bow that 
rises in front. In one hand he holds an iron-pointed staff, 
with which he retards the vehicle in descending hills, or 
brings it to a halt. A traveling sledge weighs about twenty- 
five pounds, but a freight sledge is much heavier. 

A good team will travel from forty to sixty miles a day 
with favorable roads. Sometimes a hundred a day may be 
accomplished, but very rarely. Once an express traveled from 
Petropavlovsk to Bolcheretsk, a hundred and twenty-five miles, 
in twenty-three hours, without change of dogs. 

Wolves have an inconvenient fondness for dog meat, and 
occasionally attack travelers. A gentleman told me that a 
wolf once sprang from the bushes, seized and dragged away 
one of his dogs, and did not detain the team three minutes. 
The dogs are cowardly in their dispositions, and will not fight 
unless they have large odds in their favor. A pack of them 
will attack and kill a single strange dog, but would not dis- 
turb a number equaling their own. 

Most of the Russian settlers buy their dogs from the natives 
who breed them. Dogs trained to harness are worth from 
ten to forty roubles (dollars) each, according to their quality. 
Leaders bring high prices on account of their superior docil- 
ity and the labor of training them. Epidemics are frequent 
among dogs and carry off great numbers of them. Hydro- 
phobia is a common occurrence. 

The Russian inhabitants of Kamchatka are mostly de- 
scended from Cossacks and exiles. There is a fair but not 
undue proportion of half breeds, the natural result of mar- 
riage between natives and immigrants. There are about four 
hundred Russians at Petropavlovsk, and the same number at 
each of two other points. The aboriginal population is about 
six thousand, including a few hundred dwellers on the Kurile 
Islands. 

No exiles have been sent to Kamchatka since 1830. One 



62 ERECTING A MONUMENT. 

old man who had been forty years a colonist was living at 
Avatcha in 1866. He was at liberty to return to Europe, but 
preferred remaining. 

In 1771 occurred the first voyage from Kamchatka to a 
foreign port, and curiously enough, it was performed under 
the Polish flag. A number of exiles, headed by a Pole named 
Benyowski, seized a small vessel and put to sea. Touching 
at Japan and Loo Choo to obtain water and provisions, the 
party reached the Portuguese colony of Macao in safety. 
There were no nautical instruments or charts on the ship, and 
the successful result of the voyage was more accidental than 
otherwise. 

Close by the harbor of Petropavlovsk there is a monument 
to the memory of the ill-fated and intrepid navigator, La 
Perouse. It bears no inscription, and was evidently built in 
haste. There is a story that a French ship once arrived in 
Avatcha Bay on a voyage of discovery. Her captain asked 
the governor if there was anything to commemorate the visit 
of La Perouse. 

" Certainly," was the reply ; " I will show it to you in the 
morning." 

During the night the monument was hastily constructed of 
wood and sheet iron, and fixed in the position to which the 
governor led his delighted guest. 

Captain Clerke, successor to Captain Cook, of Sandwich 
Island memory, died while his ships were in Avatcha Bay, 
and was buried at Petropavlovsk. A monument that formerly 
marked his grave has disappeared. Captain Lund and Colo- 
nel Bulkley arranged to erect a durable memorial in its place. 
We prepared an inscription in English and Russian, and for 
temporary purposes fixed a small tablet on the designated 
spot. Americans and Russians formed the party that listened 
to the brief tribute which one of our number paid to the 
memory of the great navigator. 

In the autumn of 1854, a combined English and French 
fleet of six ships suffered a severe repulse from several land 
batteries and the guns of a Russian frigate in the harbor. 



THE BATTLE OP PETROPATLOVSK. 



63 



Twice beaten off, their commanders determined an assault. 
They landed a strong force of sailors and marines, that at- 
tempted to take the town in the rear, but the Kamchadale 
sharpshooters created a panic, and drove the assailants over 
a steeply sloping cliff two hundred feet high. 




*"Wf ; 



„ „ If - 



)-. 



i^gg aftSjill 



REPULSE OP THE ASSAILANTS. 

Naturally the natives are proud of their success in this bat- 
tle, and mention it to every visitor. The English Admiral 
committed suicide early in the attack. The fleet retired to 
San Francisco, and returned in the following year prepared 
to capture the town at all hazards, but Petropavlovsk had 
been abandoned by the Russians, who retired beyond the hills. 
An American remained in charge of a trading establishment, 
and hoisted his national colors over it. The allies burned the 
government property and destroyed the batteries. 

There were five or six hundred dogs in town when the fleet 
entered the bay. Their violent howling held the allies aloof 
a whole day, under the impression that a garrison should be 
very large to have so many watch-dogs. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE first project for making discoveries in the ocean east 
of Kamchatka was formed by Peter the Great. Dan- 
ish, German, and English navigators and savans were sent to 
the eastern coast of Asia to conduct explorations in the de- 
sired quarter, but very little was accomplished in the lifetime 
of the great czar. His successors carried out his plans. 

In June, 1741, Vitus Bering, the first navigator of the 
straits which bear his name, sailed from Avatcha Bay. Pass- 
ing south of the islands of the Aleutian chain, Bering steered 
to the eastward, and at length discovered the American con- 
tinent. " On the 16th of July," says Steller, the naturalist 
and historian of the expedition, " we saw a mountain whose 
height was so great as to be visible at the distance of sixteen 
Dutch miles. The coast of the continent was much broken 
and indented with bays and harbors." 

The nearest point of land was named Cape St. Elias, as it 
was discovered on St. Elias' day. The high mountain re- 
ceived the name of the saint, and has clung to it ever since. 

When Bering discovered Russian America he had no thought 
it would one day be sold to the United States, "and there is 
nothing to show that he ever corresponded with Mr. Seward 
about it. He sailed a short distance along its coast, visited 
various islands, and then steered for Kamchatka. 

The commander was confined to his cabin by illness, and 
the crew suffered severely from scurvy. " At one period," 
says Steller, " only ten persons were capable of duty, and 
they were too weak to furl the sails, so that the ship was left 
to the mercy of the elements. Not only the sick died, but 

(64) 



VOYAGES IN FRAIL VESSELS. 65 

those who pretended to be healthy fainted and fell down dead 
when relieved from their posts." 

In this condition the navigators were drifted upon a rocky- 
island, where their ship went to pieces, but not until all had 
landed. Many of the crew died soon after going on shore, 
but the transfer from the ship appeared to diminish the rav- 
ages of the scurvy. Commander Bering died on the 8th of 
December, and was buried in the trench where he lay. The 
island where he perished bears his name, but his grave is un- 
marked. An iron monument to his memory was recently 
erected at Petropavlovsk. 

No human dwellers were found on the island. Foxes were 
numerous and had no fear of the shipwrecked mariners. 
" We killed many of them," Steller adds, " with our hatchets 
and knives. They annoyed us greatly, and we were unable 
to keep them from entering our shelters and stealing our 
clothing and food." The survivors built a small vessel from 
the wreck, and succeeded in reaching Avatcha in the follow- 
ing summer. " We were given up for dead," says the histo- 
rian, " and the property we left in Kamchatka had been ap- 
propriated by strangers." 

The reports concerning the abundance of fur-bearing ani- 
mals on Bering's Island and elsewhere, induced private par- 
ties to go in search of profit. Various expeditions were fitted 
out in ships of clumsy construction and bad sailing qualities. 
The timbers were fastened with wooden pins and leathern 
thongs, and the crevices were caulked with moss. Occasion- 
ally the cordage was made from reindeer skins, and the sails 
from the same material. Many ships were wrecked, but this 
did not frighten adventurous merchants. 

Few of these voyages were pushed farther than the Aleu- 
tian islands. The natives were hostile and killed a fair pro- 
portion of the Russian explorers. In 1781 a few merchants 
of Kamchatka arranged a company with a view to developing 
commerce in Russian America. They equipped several ships, 
formed a settlement at Kodiak and conducted an extensive 
and profitable business. Their agents treated the natives 
5 



66 A MONOPOLY IN RUSSIAN AMERICA. 

with great cruelty, and so bad was their conduct that the 
emperor Paul revoked their privileges. 

A new company was formed and chartered in July, 1779, 
under the title of the Russian-American Company. It suc- 
ceeded the old concern, and absorbed it into its organization. 

The Russian-American Company had its chief office in St. 
Petersburg, where the Directors formed a kind of high court 
of appeal. It was authorized to explore and place under con- 
trol of the crown all the territories of North-Western Ame- 
rica not belonging to any other government. It was required 
to deal kindly with the natives, and endeavor to convert them 
to the religion of the empire. It had the administration of 
the country and a commercial monopoly through its whole 
extent. All other merchants were to be excluded, no matter 
what their nationality. At one time so great was the jealousy 
of the Company's officers that no foreign ship was allowed 
within twenty miles of the coast. 

The Imperial Government required that the chief officer 
of the company should be commissioned in the service of the 
crown, and detailed to the control of the American Territory. 
His residence was at Sitka, to which the principal post was 
removed from Kodiak. In the early history of the Company 
there were many encounters with the natives, the severest 
battle taking place on the present site of Sitka. The natives 
had a fort there, and were only driven from it after a long 
and obstinate fight. The first colony that settled at Sitka 
was driven away, and all traces of the Russian occupation 
were destroyed. After a few years of conflict, peace was de- 
clared, and trade became prosperous. The Company occu- 
pied Russian America and the Aleutian Islands, and pushed 
its traffic to the Arctic Ocean. It established posts on the 
Kurile Islands, in Kamchatka, and along the coast of the 
Ohotsk Sea. It built churches, employed priests, and was 
quite successful in converting the natives to Christianity. 

Having a monopoly of trade and being the law giver to the 
natives, the Company had things in pretty much its own way. 
The governor at Sitka was the autocrat of all the American 



CLOSING OF BUSINESS. 67 

Russians, There was no appeal from his decision except to 
the Directory at St. Petersburg, which was about as accessi- 
ble as the moon. The natives were reduced to a condition 
of slavery ; they were compelled to devote the best part of 
their time to the company's labor, and the accounts were so 
managed as to keep them always in debt. 

Alexander Baranoff was the first governor, and continued 
more than twenty years in power. He managed affairs to 
his own taste, paying little regard to the wishes of the Direc- 
tory, or even of the Emperor, when they conflicted with his 
own. The Russians in the company's employ were Promush- 
leniks, or adventurers, enlisted in Siberia for a term of years. 
They were soldiers, sailors, hunters, fishermen, or mechanics, 
according to the needs of the service. Their condition was 
little better than that of the natives they held in subjection. 
The territory was divided into districts, each under an officer 
who reported to the Chief at Sitka. 

The Directory was not troubled so long as profits were 
large, but the government had suspicions that the Company's 
reign was oppressive. An exploring expedition under Ad- 
miral Krusenstern visited the North Pacific in 1805 ; the re- 
ports of the Admiral exposed many abuses and led to changes. 
A more rigid supervision followed, and produced much good. 
The government insisted upon appointing officers of integrity 
and humanity to the chief place at Sitka. 

For many years the Company prospered. In 1812 it 
founded the colony of Ross, on the coast of California, and 
a few years later prepared to dispute the right of the Spanish 
Governor to occupy that region. The natives were every- 
where peaceable, and the dividends satisfied the stockholders. 
The slaughter of the fur-bearing animals was injudiciously 
conducted, and led to a great decrease of revenue. The last 
dividend of importance (12 per cent.) was in 1853. After 
that year misfortune seemed to follow the Company. Its 
trade was greatly reduced, partly by the diminished fur pro- 
duction and partly by the illicit traffic of independent vessels 
along the coast. Several ships were lost, one in 1865, with 



68 EXPLOKATION OP ALASKA. 

a valuable cargo of furs. In 1866 the Company's stock, from 
a nominal value of 150, had fallen to about 80, and the Com- 
pany was even obliged to accept an annual subsidy of 200,000 
roubles from the Government. So late as February, 186T, it 
received a loan of 1,000,000 roubles from the Imperial Bank. 
Probably a few years more would have seen the total extinc- 
tion of the Company, and the reversion of all its rights and 
expenses to the Crown. 

In 1866 the fleet of the Russian-American Company com- 
prised two sea steamers, six ships, two brigs, one schooner, 
and several smaller craft for coasting and inland service. 
During the Crimean war the Company's property was made 
neutral on condition of its taking no part in hostilities. Two 
of its ships were captured and burned for an alleged violation 
of neutrality. 

The Company leased a portion of its territory to the Hud- 
son Bay Company, and allowed it to establish hunting and 
trading posts. A strip of land bordering the ocean was thus 
in English hands, and gave access to a wide region beyond 
the Coast Mountains. Not content with what was leased, the 
Hudson Bay Company deliberately seized a locality on the 
Yukon river when it had no right. It built Fort Yukon and 
secured much of the interior trade of Russian America. 

When our Secretary of State purchased the Emperor's title 
to the western coast of America, there were various opinions 
respecting the sagacity of the transaction. No one could say 
what was the intrinsic value of the country, either actual or 
prospective. The Company never gave much attention to 
scientific matters. 

The Russian government had made some explorations to 
ascertain the character and extent of the rivers, mountains, 
plains, and swamps that form the country. In 1841 Lieuten- 
ant Zagoyskin commenced an examination of the country 
bordering the rivers, and continued it for two years. He 
traced the course of the Kuskokvim and the lower portions 
of the Yukon, or Kvikpak. His observations were chiefly 
confined to the rivers and the country immediately bordering 



EESOURCES OP THE COUNTRY. 69 

them. He made no discoveries of agricultural or mineral 
wealth. Fish and deer-meat, with berries, formed the food 
of the natives, while furs were their only articles of trade. 

Russian America is of great extent, superficially. It is 
agreeably diversified with mountains, hills,- rolling country, 
and table land, with a liberal amount oipereval or undulating 
swamp. In the northern portion there is timber scattered 
along the rivers and on the mountain slopes ; but the trees 
and their quantity are alike small. In the southern parts 
there are forests of large trees, that will be valuable when 
Oregon and Washington are exhausted. Along the coast 
there are many bays and harbors, easy of access and well 
sheltered. Sitka has a magnificent harbor, never frozen or 
obstructed with ice. 

Gold is known to exist in several localities. A few placer 
mines have been opened on the Stikeen river, but no one 
knows the extent of the auriferous beds, in the absence of all 
' prospecting ' data. I do not believe gold mining will ever 
be found profitable in Russian America. The winters are 
long and cold, and the snows are deep. The working season 
is very short, and in many localities on the mainland ' ground 
ice' is permanent at slight depths. Veins of copper have 
been found near the Yukon, but so far none that would pay 
for developing. 

Building stone is abundant, and so is ice. Neither is of 
much value in commerce. 

The fur trade was the chief source of the Company's rev- 
enue. The principal fur-bearing animals are the otter, seal, 
beaver, marten, mink, fox, and a few others. There is a lit- 
tle trade in walrus teeth, mammoth tusks, whalebone, and 
oil. The rivers abound in fish, of which large quantities are 
annually salted and sent to the Pacific markets. The fisher- 
ies along the coast are valuable and of the same character as 
those on the banks of Newfoundland. 

Agriculture is limited to a few garden vegetables. There 
are no fruit trees, and no attempts have thus far been made 
to introduce them. 



70 THE VALUE OF ALASKA. 

The number of native inhabitants is unknown, as no cen- 
sus has ever been taken. I have heard it estimated all the 
way from twenty to sixty thousand. The island and sea 
coast inhabitants are of the Esquimaux type, while those of 
the interior are allied to the North American Indians. The 
explorers for the Western Union Telegraph Company found 
them friendly, but not inclined to labor. Some of the natives 
left their hunting at its busiest season to assist an exploring 
party in distress. 

The change of rulers will prove a misfortune to the abo- 
riginal. Very wisely the Russian American Company pro- 
hibited intoxicating liquors in all dealings with the natives. 
The contraband stuff could only be obtained from indepen- 
dent trading ships, chiefly American. With the opening of 
the country to our commerce, whisky has been abundant and 
accessible to everybody. The native population will rapidly 
diminish, and its decrease will be accompanied by a falling 
off in the fur product. Our government should rigidly con- 
tinue the prohibitory law as enforced by the Russian officials. 

The sale of his American property was an excellent trans- 
action on the part of the Emperor. The country brought no 
revenue worth the name, and threatened to be an expensive 
ornament in coming years. It required a sea voyage to reach 
it, and was upon a continent which Russia does not aspire to 
control. It had no strategic importance in the Muscovite 
policy, and was better out of the empire than in it. 

The purchase by ourselves may or may not prove a finan- 
cial success. Thus far its developments have not been prom- 
ising. When the country has been thoroughly examined, it 
is possible we may find stores of now unknown wealth. Po- 
litically the acquisition is more important. The possession 
of a large part of the Pacific coast, indented with many bays 
and harbors, is a matter of moment in view of our national 
ambition. The American eagle can scream louder since its 
cage has been enlarged, and if any man attempts to haul 
down that noble bird, scoop him from the spot. 



CHAPTER VI. 

COLONEL BULKLEY determined to sail on the 6th of 
August for Anadyr Bay, and ordered the Variag to pro- 
ceed to the Amoor by way of Ghijiga. Early in the morning 
the corvette changed her moorings and shook a reef from her 
telescopic smoke stack, and at nine o'clock I bade adieu to 
the Wright and went on board the Yariag, to which I was 
welcomed by Capt. Lund, according to the Russian custom, 
and quartered in the room specially designed for the use of 
the Admiral. The ladies were on the nearest point of the 
beach, and just before our departure the Captain and most of 
his officers paid them a farewell visit. Seizing the tow line 
of the Danzig, which we were to take to sea, we steamed 
from the harbor into the Pacific, followed by the cheers of all 
on board the Wright and the waving of ladies' handkerchiefs 
till lost in the distance. We desired to pass the fourth, or 
Amphitrite, channel of the Kurile Islands ; the weather was 
so thick that we could not see a ship's length in any direction, 
and all night men stood with axes ready to cut the Danzig's 
tow line in case any sudden danger should appear. The fog 
lifted just as we neared the channel, and we had a clear view 
on all sides. 

We cast off the Danzig when fairly out of the Pacific. 
During the two days the Variag had her in tow we maintained 
communication by means of a log line and a junk bottle care- 
fully sealed. Casting our bottle on the waters, we allowed it 
to drift along side the Danzig, where it could be fished up 
and opened. Answers were returned in the same mail pouch. 

(71) 



72 THE VARIAG AND HER CREW. 

One response was in liquid form, and savored of gin cocktail, 
fabricated by the American captain. 

An hour after dropping the Danzig we stopped our engines 
and prepared to run under sail. The whole crew was called 
on deck to hoist out the screw, a mass of copper weighing 
twenty-five thousand pounds, and set in a frame raised or 
lowered like a window sash. With strong ropes and the 
power of three hundred men, the frame and its contents were 
lifted out of water, and the Variag became a sailing ship. 
The Russian government is more economical than our own in 
running ships of war. Whenever possible, sails are used in- 
stead of steam. A few years ago a Russian Admiral was 
transferred from active to retired service because he burned 
too much coal. 

The Yariag was 2100 tons burthen, and carried seventeen 
guns, with a crew of 306 men. She was of the fleet that 
visited New York in 1863, and her officers recounted many 
pleasant reminiscences of their stay in the United States. 
While wintering in Japanese waters she was assigned to assist 
the telegraph enterprise, and reported as soon as possible at 
Petropavlovsk ; but the only service demanded was to pro- 
ceed to the mouth of the Amoor by way of Ghijiga and 
Ohotsk. 

The officers of the Yariag were, a captain, a commander, 
four lieutenants, six sub-lieutenants, an officer of marines 
with a cadet, a lieutenant of naval artillery, two sailing mas- 
ters, two engineers, a surgeon, a paymaster, and a priest. 
As near as I could ascertain, their pay, including allowances, 
was about three-fourths that of American officers of similar 
grades. They received three times as much at sea as when 
awaiting orders, and this fact led them to seek constant ser- 
vice. In the ward room they read, wrote, talked, smoked, 
and could play any games of amusement except cards. Card 
playing is strictly forbidden by the Russian naval regulations. 

The sailors on the corvette were robust and powerful fel- 
lows, with appetites to frighten a hotel keeper. Russian 
sailors from the interior of the empire are very liable to 



NAVAL BILL OP FARE. 73 

scurvy. Those from Finland are the best for long voyages. 
Captain Lund once told me the experience of a Eussian ex- 
pedition of five ships upon a long cruise. One ship was man- 
ned by Finlanders, and the others carried sailors from the in- 
terior. The Finlanders were not attacked with scurvy, but 
the rest suffered severely. 

" All the Eussians," said the captain, " make good sailors, 
but those from the maritime provinces are the best seamen." 

Early in the voyage it was interesting to see the men at 
dinner. Their table utensils were wooden spoons and tubs, 
at the rate of ten spoons and one tub to every ten men. A 
piece of canvas upon the deck received the tub, which gen- 
erally contained soup. With their hats off, the men dined 
leisurely and amicably. Soup and bread were the staple ar- 
ticles of food. Cabbage soup (schee) is the national diet of 
Eussia, from the peasant up to the autocrat. Several times 
on the voyage we had soup on the captain's table from the 
supply prepared for the crew, and I can testify to its excel- 
lence. The food of the sailors was carefully inspected before 
being served. When the soup was ready, the cook took a 
bowl of it, with a slice of bread and a clean spoon, and de- 
livered the whole to the boatswain. From the boatswain it 
went to the officer of the deck, and from him to the chief 
officer, who delivered it to the captain. The captain carefully 
examined and tasted the soup. If unobjectionable, the bowl 
was returned to the galley and the dinner served at once. 

A sailor's ration in the Eussian navy is more than sufficient 
for an ordinary appetite and digestion. The grog ration is 
allowed, and the boatswain's call to liquid refreshment is 
longer and shriller than for any other duty. At the grog tub 
the sailor stands with uncovered head while performing the 
ceremonial abhorred of Good Templars. As of old in our 
navy, grog is stopped as a punishment. The drink ration 
can be entirely commuted and the food ration one half, but 
not more. Many sailors on the Variag practiced total abstin- 
ence at sea, and as the grog had been purchased in Japan at 
very high cost, the commutation money was considerable-. 



74 A REMINISCENCE OF PETER THE GREAT. 

Commutation is regulated according to the price of the arti- 
cles where the ship was last supplied. 

I was told that the sailor's pay, including ordinary allow- 
ances, is about a hundred roubles a year. The sum is not 
munificent, but probably the Muscovite mariner is no more 
economical than the American one. In his liberty on shore 
he will get as drunk as the oft quoted ' boiled owl.' En pas- 
sant I protest against the comparison, as it is a slander upon 
the owl. 

At Petropavlovsk there was an amusing fraternization be- 
tween the crews of the Variag and the "Wright. The Ame- 
rican sailors were scattered among the Russians in the pro- 
portion of one to six. Neither understood a word of the 
other's language, and the mouth and eye were obliged to per- 
form the duties of the ear. The flowing bowl was the manual 
of conversation between the Russians and their new friends. 
The Americans attempted to drink against fearful odds, and 
the result was unfortunate. They returned sadly intoxicated 
and were unfit for social or nautical duties until the next day. 

When the Variag was at New York in 1863, many of her 
sailors were entrapped by bounty-brokers. When sailors were 
missing after liberty on shore, a search through the proper 
channels revealed them converted into American soldiers, 
much against their will. Usually they were found at New 
York, but occasionally a man reached the front before he was 
rescued. Some returned to the ship dressed as zouaves, others 
as artillerists ; some in the yellow of cavalry, and so on 
through our various uniforms. Of course they were greatly 
jeered by their comrades. 

Everyone conversant with Russian history knows that Peter 
the Great went to England, and afterward to Holland, to 
study ship building. He introduced naval construction from 
those countries, and brought from Holland the men to man- 
age his first ships and teach his subjects the art of navigation. 
As a result of his enterprise, the principal parts of a Russian 
ship have English or Dutch names, some words being changed 
a little to adapt them to Russian pronunciation. 



CONFUSION OP TONGUES. 7D 

The Dutch navigators exerted great influence upon the 
nautical language of Russia. To illustrate this Captain Lund 
said : "A Dutch pilot or captain could come on my ship and 
his orders in his own language would be understood by my 
crew. I mean simply the words of command, without ex- 
planations. On the other hand, a Dutch crew could under- 
stand my orders without suspecting they were Russian." 

Sitting among the officers in the ward-room, I endeavored 
to accustom my ear to the sound of the Russian language 
and learn to repeat the most needed phrases. I soon acquired 
the alphabet, and could count up to any extent ; I could spell 
Russian words much as a schoolboy goes through his ' first 
reader' exercise, but was unable to attain rapid enunciation. 
I could never get over the impression that the Muscovite type 
had been set up by a drunken printer who could n't read. 
The R's looked the wrong way, the L's stood bottom upward, 
H's became N's, and C's were S's, and lower case and small 
caps were generally mixed up. The perplexities of Russian 
youth must be greater than ours, as they have thirty-six let- 
ters in their alphabet and every one of them must be learned. 
A brief study of Slavonic verbs and nouns convinced me 
they could never be acquired grammatically in the short time 
I proposed remaining in Russia, and so I gave them up. 

What a hindrance to a traveler and literal man of the 
world is this confusion of tongues ! There is no human being 
who can make himself verbally understood everywhere on 
this little globe. In the Russian empire alone there are more 
than a hundred spoken languages and dialects. The emperor, 
with all his erudition, has many subjects with whom he is 
unable to converse. What a misfortune to mankind that the 
Tower of Babel was ever commenced ! The architect who 
planned it should receive the execration of all posterity. 

The apartment I occupied was of goodly size, and contained 
a large writing desk. My bed was parallel to the keel, and 
hung so that it could swing when the ship rolled. Previous 
to my embarkation the room was the receptacle of a quantity 
of chronometers, sextants, charts, and other nautical appa- 



76 



A TALKATIVE PARTITION. 




PLENTY OF TIME. 



ratus. There were seventeen chronometers in one box, and 
a few others lay around loose. I never had as much time at 
my command before or since. Twice a day an officer came 
to wind these chronometers and note their variation. There 

were ma- 
rine in- 
struments 
enough in 
that room 
to supply 
a dozen 
sea-cap- 
tains, but 
if the en- 
tire lot 
had been 
loan' d me, 
I never 

could have ascertained the ship's position without asking 
somebody who knew it. 

The partition separating me from the ward-room was built 
after the completion of the ship, and had a way of creaking 
like a thousand or more squeaky boots in simultaneous ac- 
tion. Every time we rolled, each board rubbed against its 
neighbor and waked the echoes of the cabin. The first time 
I slept in the room the partition seemed talking in Russian, 
and I distinctly remember that it named a majority of the 
cities and many noble families throughout the empire. After 
the first night it was powerless to disturb me. I thought it 
possible that on leaving the ship I might be in the condition 
of the woman whose husband, a fearful snorer, was suddenly 
called from home. The lady passed several sleepless nights, 
until she hit upon the expedient of calling a servant with the 
coffee mill. The vigorous grinding of that household utensil 
had the effect of a powerful opiate. 

At eight o'clock every morning, Yakuff, (the Russian for 
Jacob,) brought me a pitcher of water. When my toilet was 



BURIAL AT SEA. 



77 



over, he appeared "with a cup of tea and a few cakes. We 
conversed in the beginning with a sign language, until I 
picked up enough Russian to ask for tea, water, bread, and 
other necessary things. At eleven we had breakfast in the 




RUSSIAN OFFICERS AT MESS. 



captain's cabin, where we discussed steaks, cutlets, tea, and 
cigars, until nearly noon. Dinner at six o'clock was opened 
with the never failing zakushka, or lunch, the universal pre- 
parative of the empire, and closed with tea and cigars. At 
eight o'clock tea was served again. After it, any one who 
chose could partake of the cup which cheers and inebriates. 
One morning during my voyage a sailor died. The ocean 
burial occurred on the following day, and was conducted ac- 
cording to the ceremonial of the Eastern Church. At the 
appointed time, I went with Captain Lund to the place of 
worship, between decks. The corpse was in a canvas coffin, 
its head and breast being visible. The coffin, partially cov- 
ered with the naval ensign, lay on a wide plank about two 



78 RUNNING IN A FOG. 

feet above the deck. At its head the priest was reading the 
burial service, while near him there was a group of sailors 
forming the choir. Captain Lund and several officers stood 
at the foot of the coffin, each holding a burning taper. 

The service lasted about twenty minutes, and consisted of 
reading by the priest and responses by the choir. The censer 
was repeatedly swung, as in Catholic ceremonials, the priest 
bowing at the same time toward the sacred picture. Simul- 
taneously all the candles were extinguished, and then several 
men advanced and kissed a small cross lying upon the coffin. 
The priest read a few lines from a written paper and placed 
it with the cross on the breast of the corpse. The coffin was 
then closed and carried upon the plank to the stern of the 
ship. 

After a final chant by the choir, one end of the plank was 
lifted, and a single splash in the water showed where the 
body went down. During the service the flag floated at half 
mast. It was soon lowered amid appropriate music, which 
ended the burial at sea. 

On the third day after leaving the Pacific we were shrouded 
in fog, but with it we had a fine southerly breeze that carried 
us rapidly on our course. The fog was so dense that we ob- 
tained no observation for four days, but so accurate was the 
sailing master's computation that the difference between our 
observed and estimated positions was less than two miles. 

When the fog rose we were fairly in Ghijiga Bay, a body 
of water shaped like a narrow V. Sharp eyes looking ahead 
discovered a vessel at anchor, and all hoped it was the Clara 
Bell. As we approached she developed into a barque, and 
gave us comfort, till her flag completed our delight. We 
threw the lead and began looking for anchorage. 

Nine, eight, seven fathoms were successively reported, and 
for some minutes the depth remained at six and a half. A 
mile from the Clara Bell we dropped anchor, the ship tremb- 
ling from stem to stern as the huge chain ran through the 
hawse-hole. We were at the end of a nine days voyage. 



CHAPTER VII. 

TTTE were fifteen miles from the mouth of Ghijiga river, 
VV the shoals forbidding nearer approach. The tide 
rises twenty-two feet in Ghijiga Bay, and to reach the light- 
house and settlement near the river, even with small boats, 
it is necessary to go with the tide. We learned that Major 
Abasa, of the Telegraph service, was at the light-house await- 
ing our arrival, and that we must start before midnight to 
reach the landing at the proper time. 

Captain Lund ordered a huge box filled with provisions and 
other table ware, and threw in a few bottles of wine as bal- 
last. I was too old a traveler to neglect my blankets and 
rubber coat, and found that Anossoff was as cautious as my- 
self. 

We prolonged our tea-drinking to ten o'clock and then 
started. Descending the ship's side was no easy matter. It 
was at least three feet from the bottom of the gang-way lad- 
der to the water, and the boat was dancing on the chopping 
sea like a pea on a hot shovel. Captain Lund descended 
first, followed by Anossoff. Then I made my effort, and be- 
hind me was a grim Cossack. Just as I reached the lowest 
step a wave swung the boat from the ship and left me hang- 
ing over the water. The Cossack, unmindful of things below, 
was backing steadily toward my head. I could not think of 
the Russian phrase for the occasion and was in some dilemma 
how to act. I shouted ' Look out ' with such emphasis that 
the man understood me and halted with his heavy boots about 
two inches above my face. Clinging to the side ropes and 
watching my opportunity, I jumped at the right moment and 

(79) 



80 



A NOCTURNAL ADVENTURE. 



happily hit the boat. The Cossack jumped into the lap of a 
sailor and received a variety of epithets for his carelessness. 
There are fourteen ways in the Russian language of calling 
a man a — — fool, and I think all of them were used. 

Wind and tide opposed each other and tossed us rather un- 
comfortably. The waves breaking over the bow saturated 




ASCENDING THE BAY. 



the Cossack and sprinkled some of the sailors. At the stern 
we managed to protect ourselves, though we caught occas- 
ionally a few drops of spray. Wrapped in my overcoat and 
holding a bear-skin on my knees, I studied the summer night 
in that high northern latitude. At midnight it seemed like 
day break, and I half imagined we had wrongly calculated 
the hours and were later than we supposed. Between sunset 
and sunrise the twilight crept along the horizon from Occident 
to Orient. Further north the inhabitants of the Arctic circle 
were enjoying the light of their long summer day. What a 
contrast to the bleak night of cold and darkness that stretches 
with faint glimmerings of dawn through nearly half the year. 



PECULIAKITIES OP GHIJIGA. 81 

The shores of the bay were high perpendicular banks, 
sharply cut like the bluffs at Vicksburg. There are several 
head-lands, but none project far enough to form harbors be- 
hind thern. The bottom furnishes good anchoring ground, 
but the bay is quite open to southerly winds. 

Captain Lund dropped his chin to his breast and slept 
soundly. Anossoff raised his coat collar and drew in his 
head like a tortoise returning into his shell, but with all his 
efforts he did not sleep. I was wakeful and found that time 
dragged slowly. The light-house had no light and needed 
none, as the darkness was far from profound. In approach- 
ing the mouth of the river we discovered a cluster of build- 
ings, and close at hand two beacons, like crosses, marking 
the direction of the channel. 

There was a little surf breaking along the beach as our 
keel touched the ground. Our blankets came dripping from 
the bottom of the boat, and my satchel had taken water 
enough to spoil my paper collars and a dozen cigars. My 
greatest calamity on that night was the sudden and persistent 
stoppage of my watch. An occurrence of little moment in 
New York or London was decidedly unpleasant when no 
trusty watchmaker lived within four thousand miles. 

Major Abasa and the Ispravnik of Ghijiga escorted us from 
the landing to their quarters, where we soon warmed ourselves 
with hot tea, and I took opportunity and a couple of bear- 
skins and went to sleep. Late in the day we had a dinner 
of soup, pork and peas, reindeer meat, and berry pudding. 
The deer's flesh was sweet and tender, with a flavor like that 
of the American elk. 

In this part of Siberia there are many wide plains (tundras) 
covered with moss and destitute of trees. The blueberry 
grows there, but is less abundant than the " maroska," a berry 
that I never saw in America. It is yellow when ripe, has an 
acid flavor, and resembles the raspberry in shape and size. 
We ate the maroska in as many forms as it could be prepared, 
and they told us that it grew in Scotland, Scandinavia, and 
Northern Russia. 
6 



82 



CENSUS RETURNS IN ASIA. 



The ordinary residents at the mouth of Ghijiga river were 
the pilot and his family, with three or four Cossacks to row 
boats on the bay. The natives of the vicinity came there 
occasionally, but none were permanent citizens. The arrival 
of the Variag and Clara Bell gave unusual activity to the set- 
tlement, and the Ispravnik might have returned a large popu- 




TAKING THE CENSUS. 



lation had he imitated the practice of those western towns 
that take their census during the stay of a railway train or 
a steamboat. There was once, according to a rural historian, 
an aspiring politician in Tennessee who wanted to go to Con- 
gress. There were not inhabitants enough in his district to 
send him, and so he placed a couple of his friends at the rail- 
way station to take the names of passengers as they visited 
the refreshment saloon and entered or left the depot. In a 
short time the requisite constituency was secured and sworn 



PRIMITIVE LIFE AND CUSTOMS 



83 




LIGHT-HOUSE AT GHIJIGA. 



to, so that the aspirant for official honor accomplished the 
wish of his heart. 

The light-house on the promontory is a hexagonal edifice 
ten feet in diameter and height ; it is of logs and has a flat 
top covered with dirt, whereon to kindle a fire. The interior 
is entered by a low door, and I found it floored with two 
sticks o f 
wood and 
a mud 
puddle. 
One could 
reach the 
top by 
climbing 
a slop- 
ing pole 
notched 
like an 
American 

fence-post. The pilot resides at the foot of the bluff, and is 
expected to visit this beacon daily. A cannon, old enough 
to have served at Pultava, stands near the light-house, in a 
condition of utter helplessness. 

The houses were furnished quite primitively. Beds were 
of bearskins and blankets, and the floor was the only bed- 
stead. There were rustic tables of hewn boards, and benches 
without backs. In a storehouse there was a Fairbanks' scale, 
somewhat worn and rusty, and I found a tuneless melodeon 
from Boston and a coffee mill from New York. 

The town of Ghijiga is on the bank of the river, twelve 
miles from the light-house, and the route thither was overland 
or by water, at one's choice. Overland there was a footpath 
crossing a hill and a wet tundra. The journey by water was 
upon the Ghijiga river ; five versts of rowing and thirteen of 
towing by men or dogs. As it was impossible to hire a horse, 
I repudiated the overland route altogether, and tried a brief 
journey on the river, but could not reach the town and return 



84 DOG TRAVEL BY WATER. 

in time for certain engagements. Ghijiga lias a population 
of less than three hundred, and closely resembles Petropav- 
lovsk. Two or three foreign merchants go there annually 
with goods to exchange for furs which the Russian traders 
gather. The inhabitants are Russians or half breeds, the 
former predominating. The half breeds are said to possess 
all the vices of both races with the virtues of neither. 

Mr. Bilzukavitch, the Ispravnik of Ghijiga, was a native of 
Poland, and governed seventy-two thousand square miles of 
territory, with a population of sixteen hundred taxed males. 
His military force comprised thirty Cossacks with five mus- 
kets, of which three were unserviceable. The native tribes 
included in the district of Ghijiga are the Koriaks and Chuk- 
chees ; the Koriaks readily pay tribute and acknowledge the 
Russian authority, but the Chukchees are not yet fairly sub- 
dued. They were long in open war with the Russians, and 
though peace is now established, many of them are not tribu- 
tary. Those who visit the Russian towns are compelled to 
pay tribute and become Imperial subjects before selling or 
purchasing goods. The Ispravnik is an artist of unusual 
merit, as evinced by an album of his sketches illustrating life 
in Northern Siberia. Some of them appeared like steel en- 
gravings, and testified to the skill and patience of the man 
who made them. 

On my second day at Ghijiga I tried a river journey with 
a dog team. The bottom of the boat was on the ' dug-out' 
principle, and the sides were two planks meeting in sharp 
and high points a,t the ends. I had a seat on some bearskins 
on the plank flooring, and found it reasonably comfortable. 
One man steered the boat, another in the bow managed the 
towline, and a third, who walked on land, drove the dogs. 
We had seven canines — three pairs and a leader — pulling 
upon a deerskin towline fastened to a thole-pin. It was the 
duty of the man in the bow to regulate the towline according 
to circumstances. The dogs were unaccustomed to their 
driver, and balky in consequence. Two of them refused to 
pull when we started, and remained obstinate until persuaded 



CIVILIZED DEESS FOR AN ABORIGINAL. 85 

with sticks. The driver used neither reins nor whip, but 
liberally employed the drift wood along the banks. Clubs 
were trumps in that day's driving. The team was turned to 
the left by a guttural sound that no paper and ink can de- 
scribe, and to the right by a rapid repetition of the word ' ca.' 

Occasionally the path changed from one bank to the oppo- 
site. At such times we seated the dogs in the bow of the 
boat and ferried them over the river. In the boat they were 
generally quiet, though inclined to bite each other's legs at 
convenient opportunities. One muddy dog shook himself 
over me ; I forgave him, but his driver did not, the innocent 
brute receiving several blows for making his toilet in presence 
of passengers. 

The Koriaks have a habit of sacrificing dogs to obtain a 
fortunate fishery. The animals are hung on limbs of trees, 
and the sacrifice always includes the best. Major Abasa 
urged them to give only their worthless dogs to the evil spirit, 
assuring them the fishery would result just as well, and they 
promised to try the experiment. Dogs were scarce and ex- 
pensive in consequence of a recent canine epidemic. Only 
a day before our arrival three dogs developed hydrophobia 
and were killed. 

The salmon fishery was very poor in 1866, and the inhab- 
itants of the Ghijiga district were relying upon catching seals 
in the autumn. At Kolymsk, on the Kolyma river, the au- 
thorities require every man to catch one-tenth more than 
enough for his own use. This surplus is placed in a public 
storehouse and issued in case of famine. It is the rule to 
keep a three years supply always at hand. Several seasons 
of scarcity led to the adoption of the plan. 

We were frequently visited by the natives from a Koriak 
village near the light-house. Their dress was of deer skin, 
and comprised a kotlanka, or frock, pantaloons, and boots, or 
leggings. Winter garments are of deer skin with its hair re- 
maining, but summer clothing is of dressed skins alone. 
These natives appear below the ordinary stature, and their 
legs seemed to me very small. Ethnologists are divided con- 



86 HONESTY OF NATIVES. 

cerning the origin of the Koriaks, some assigning them to 
the Mongol race and others to the Esquimaux. The Koriaks 
express no opinion on the disputed point, and have none. 

Both sexes dress alike, and wear ornaments of beads in 
their ears. They have a curious custom of shaving the back 
part of the head, a la moine. Fashion is as arbitrary among 
the Koriaks as in Paris or New York, and dictates the cut of 
garments and the style of hair dressing with unyielding 
severity. 

Like savages everywhere, these natives manifest a fondness 
for civilized attire. A party visited the Clara Bell and ob- 
tained some American clothing. One man sported a cast-off 
suit, in which he appeared as uneasy as an organ grinder's 
monkey in a new coat. Another wore a sailor's jacket from 
the Yariag, and sported the number ' 19 ' with manifest pride. 
A third had a fatigue cap, bearing the letters ' IT. S.' in heavy 
brass, the rest of his costume being thoroughly aboriginal. 
One old fellow had converted an empty meat can into a hat, 
without removing the printed label " stewed beef." I gave 
him a pair of dilapidated gloves, which he donned at once. 

The Koriaks are of two kinds, wandering and settled. 
The wanderers have great numbers of reindeer, and lead a 
migratory life in finding pasturage for their herds. The set- 
tled Koriaks are those who have lost their deer and been 
forced to locate where they can subsist by fishing. The for- 
mer are kind and hospitable ; the latter generally the reverse. 
Poverty has made them selfish, as it has made many a white 
man. All are honest to a degree unusual among savages. 
When Major Ahasa traveled among them in the winter of 
1865, they sometimes refused compensation for their services, 
and were scrupulously careful to guard the property of their 
guests. Once the Major purposely left some trivial articles. 
The next day a native brought them forward, and was greatly 
astonished when pay was offered for his trouble. 

" This is your property," was the response ; " we could not 
keep it in our tents, and it was our duty to bring it to you." 

The wandering Koriaks estimate property in deer as our 



YOURTS AND BALAGANS, 



87 



Indians count in horses. It is only among the thousands 
that wealth is eminently respectable. Some Koriaks own 
ten or twelve thousand deer, and one fortunate native is the 
possessor of forty thousand in' his own name, (O-gik-a-nnp 
tik.) Though the wealthiest of his tribe, he does not drive 
fast horses, and never aspired to a seat in Congress. How 
much he has missed of real life ! 

Reindeer form the circulating medium, and all values are 
expressed in this four-footed currency. The animal supplies 
nearly every want. They eat his meat and pick his bones, 
and not only devour the meat, but the stomach, entrails, and 
their contents. When they stew the mass of meat and half 
digested moss, the stench is disgusting. Captain Kennan 
told me that when he arrived among the Koriaks the peculiar 
odor made him ill, and he slept out of doors with the ther- 
mometer at — 35° rather than enter a tent where cooking was 
in progress. 

The Koriaks build their summer dwellings of light poles 
covered with skin, or 






bark. Their winter 
habitations are of logs 
covered with earth and 
partly sunk into the 
ground, the crevices 
being filled with moss. 
The summer dwellings 
are called balagans, 
and the winter ones 
yourts, but the latter 
name is generally ap- 
plied to both. A win- 
ter yourt has a hole in 

the top, which serves for both chimney and door. The ladder 
for the descent is a hewn stick, with holes for one's feet, and 
leans directly over the fire. Whatever the outside tempera- 
ture, the yourt is suffocatingly hot within, and no fresh air 
can enter except through the top. When a large fire is burn- 




KOKIAK YOURT. 



88 AN ASIATIC WEDDING. 

ing and a thick volume of smoke pours out, the descent is 
very disagreeable. Russians and other white men, even 
after long practice, never attempt it without a shudder. 

The yourt is generally circular or oblong, and its size is 
proportioned to the family of the owner. The fire is in the 
center, and the sleeping apartments are ranged around the 
walls. These apartments, called ' polags,' are about six feet 
square and four or five high, partitioned with light poles and 
skin curtains. Owing to the high temperature the natives 
sleep entirely naked. Sometimes in the coldest nights their 
clothing is hung out of doors to rid it of certain parasites not 
unknown in civilization. Benumbed with frost, the insects 
lose their hold and fall into the snow, to the great comfort of 
those who nursed and fed them. The body of a Koriak, con- 
sidered as a microcosm, is remarkably well inhabited. 

Captain Kennan gave me a graphic description of the Ko- 
riak marriage ceremonial. The lover must labor for the 
loved one's father, not less than one nor more than five years. 
No courtship is allowed during this period, and the young 
man must run the risk of his love being returned. The term 
of service is fixed by agreement between the stern parent and 
the youth. 

At an appointed day the family and friends are assembled 
in a yourt, the old women being bridesmaids. The bride is 
placed in one polag and the bridegroom in the next. At a 
given signal a race commences, the bride leading. Each 
must enter every polag, and the man must catch his prize in 
a specified way before she makes the circuit of the yourt. 

The bridesmaids, armed with long switches, offer every 
assistance to the woman and equal hindrance to the man. 
For her they lift the curtains Of the polags, but hold them 
down against her pursuer and pound him with their switches. 
Unless she stops voluntarily it is utterly impossible to over- 
take her within the circuit. If she is not overtaken the en- 
gagement is ' off,' and the man must retire or serve again for 
the privilege of another love chase. Generally the pursuit is 
successful ; the lover doubtless knows the temper of the lovee 



A NOVEL KIND OF BALLAST. 89 

before becoming her father's apprentice. But coquettes are 
not unknown in Koriakdom, and the pursuing youths are 
sometimes left in the lurch — or the polags. 

Should the lover overtake the maiden before making the 
circuit, both remain seven days and nights in a polag. Their 
food is given them under the curtain during that period, and 
they cannot emerge for any purpose whatever. The brides- 
maids then perform a brief but touching ceremonial, and the 
twain are pronounced one flesh. 

Northeast of Ghijiga is the country of the Chukchees, a 
people formerly hostile to the Koriaks. The feuds are not 
entirely settled, but the ill feeling has diminished and both 
parties maintain a dignified reserve. The Chukchees are 
hunters and traders^ and have large herds of reindeer but 
very few dogs. They are the most warlike of these northern 
races, and long held the Russians at bay. They go far from 
shore with their baydaras, or seal skin boats, visiting islands 
along the coast, and frequently crossing to North America. 
Their voyages are of a mercantile character, the Chukchee 
buying at the Russian towns and selling his goods among the 
Esquimaux. 

At Ghijiga I made a short voyage in a baydara. The frame 
appeared very fragile, and the seal skin covering displayed 
several leaks. I was unwilling to risk myself twenty feet 
from land, but after putting me ashore the Koriak boatman 
pulled fearlessly into the bay. 

The Chukchee trader has a crew of his own race to paddle 
his light canoe. Occasionally the baydaras are caught in 
storms and must be lightened. I have the authority of Major 
Abasa that in such case the merchant keeps his cargo and 
throws overboard his crew. Goods and furs are costly, but 
men are cheap and easily replaced. The crew is entirely 
reconciled to the state of affairs, and drowns itself with that 
resignation known only to pagans. 

" But," I asked, " do not the men object to this kind of 
jettison ?" 

" I believe not," was the major's reply ; " they are only 



90 



WHISKY THAT NOBODY DRINKS. 



discharging their duty to their employer. They go over the 
side just as they would step from an over-laden sledge." 

I next inquired if the trader did not first throw out the 
men to whom he was most indebted, but could not obtain in- 



- " ,~o- ss 







j -; t 



{«>;:■ 



1 




DISCHARGING A DECK LOAD. 



formation on that point. It is probable that with an eye to 
business he disposes promptly of his creditors and keeps 
debtors to the last. What a magnificent system of squaring 
accounts ! 

The Chukchees have mingled much with whalemen along 
Anadyr Bay and the Arctic Ocean, and readily adopt the 
white man's vices. They drink whisky without fear, and will 
get very drunk if permitted. When Captain Macrae's tele- 
graph party landed at the mouth of the Anadyr the natives 
supposed the provision barrels were full of whisky, and be- 
came very importunate for something to drink. The captain 
made a mixture of red pepper and vinegar, which he palmed 
off as the desired article. All were pleased with it, and the 
hotter it was the better. 

One native complained that its great heat burned the skin 
from his throat before he could swallow enough to secure in- 
toxication. The fame of this whisky was wide-spread. Cap- 
tain Kennan said he heard at Anadyrsk and elsewhere of its 



REINDEER TRAVEL, 



91 



•wonderful strength, and was greatly amused when he arrived 
at Macrae's and heard the whole story. 

Many of these natives have learned English from whale- 
men and speak enough to be understood. Gov. Bilzukuvitch 
visited Anadyrsk in the spring of 1866, and met there a 
Chukchee chief. Neither spoke the other's language, and so 
the governor called his Koriak servant. The same dilemma 
occurred, as each was ignorant of the other's vernacular. 
There was an awkward pause until it was discovered that 
both Koriak and Chukchee could speak English. Business 
then proceeded without difficulty. 

Among the Chukchees a deer can be purchased for a pound 
of tobacco, but the price increases as one travels southward. 
"With the Koriaks it is four or five roubles, at Ohotsk ten or 
fifteen, and on the banks of the Amoor not often less than 
fifty. South of the Amoor the reindeer is not a native. I 
am inclined to discredit many stories of the wonderful swift- 
ness of this animal. He sometimes performs remarkable 
journeys, but ordinarily he is outstripped by a good dog team. 
Reindeer have the advantage of finding their food under the 
snow, while 
provision S 
for dogs 
must be 
carried on 
the sledge 
When turn- 
ed out in 
winter, the 
deer digs 
beneath the 
snow and 
seeks his 
food with- 
out troubling his master. The American sailors when they 
have liberty on shore in these northern regions, invariably in- 
dulge in reindeer rides, to the disgust of the animals and 




KEINDEEK EIDE. 



92 THE NATIVES AND THE TELEGEAPH. 

their owners. The deer generally conies to a halt in the first 
twenty yards, and nothing less than building a fire beneath 
him can move him from his tracks. 

There is a peculiar mushroom in Northeastern Siberia spot- 
ted like a leopard and surmounted with a small hood. It 
grows in other parts of Russia, where it is poisonous, but 
among the Koriaks it is simply intoxicating. When one 
finds a mushroom of this kind he can sell it for three or four 
reindeer. So powerful is this fungus that the fortunate native 
who eats it remains drunk for several days. By a process of 
transmission which I will not describe, as it might offend 
fastidious persons, half a dozen individuals may successively 
enjoy the effects of a single mushroom, each of them in a 
less degree than his predecessor. 

Like savages everywhere, these northern natives are greatly 
pleased with pictures and study them attentively. I heard 
that several copies of American illustrated papers were cir- 
culating among the Chukchees, who handled them with great' 
care. There is a superstitious reverence for pictures mingled 
with childlike curiosity. People possessing no written lan- 
guage find the pictorial representations of the civilized world 
the nearest approach to savage hieroglyphics. 

The telegraph was an object of great wonder to all the na- 
tives. In Ghijiga a few hundred yards of wire were put up 
in the spring of 1866. Crowds gathered to see the curiosity, 
and many messages were exchanged to prove that the ma- 
chine really spoke. At Anadyrsk Captain Kennan arranged 
a small battery and held in his pocket the key that controlled 
the circuit. Then the marvel began. The instrument told 
when persons entered or left the room, when any thing was 
taken from the table without permission, or any impropriety 
committed. Even covered with a piece of deer skin, it could 
see distinctly. With the human tendency to ascribe to the 
devil anything not understood, these natives looked upon the 
telegraph as supernatural. As it showed no desire to harm 
them, they exhibited no fear but abundance of respect. 

The Chukchees and Koriaks are creditable workers in 



BUKIEDINASNOWBANK. 93 

metals and ivory. I saw animal representations rudely but 
well cut in ivory, and spear-heads that would do credit to any 
blacksmith. Their hunting knives, made from hoop-iron, are 
well fashioned, and some of the handles are tastefully inlaid 
with copper, brass, and silver. In trimming their garments 
they are very skillful, and cut bits of deerskin into various 
fantastic shapes. 

At Ghijiga I bought a kotlanka, intending to wear it in my 
winter travel. Its sleeves were purposely very long, and the 
hood had a wide fringe of dogskin to shield the face. I 
could never put the thing on with ease, and ultimately sold it 
to a curiosity hunter. Gloves and mittens, lined with squir- 
rel skin, are made at Ghijiga, and worn in all the region 
within a thousand miles. 

A great hindrance to winter travel in Northeastern Siberia 
is the prevalence of poorgas, or snow storms with wind. On 
the bleak tundras where there is no shelter, the poorgas sweep 
with pitiless severity. Some last but a few hours, with the 
thermometer ten or twenty degrees below zero. Sometimes 
the wind takes up whole masses of snow and forms drifts 
several feet deep in a few moments. Travelers, dogs, and 
sledges are frequently buried out of sight, and remain in the 
snow till the storm is over. 

Dogs begin to howl at the approach of a poorga, long be- 
fore men can see any indication of it. They display a ten- 
dency to burrow in the snow if the wind is cold and violent. 
Poorgas do not occur at regular intervals, but are most preva- 
lent in February and March. 

A few years ago a party of Koriaks crossing the great tun- 
dra north of Kamchatka encountered a severe storm. It was 
of unusual violence, and soon compelled a halt. Dogs and 
men burrowed into the snow to wait the end of the gale. 
Unfortunately they halted in a wide hollow that, unperceived 
by the party, filled with a deep drift. The snow contains so 
much air that it is not difficult to breathe in it at a consider- 
able depth, and the accumulation of a few feet is not alarm- 
ing. Hour after hour passed, and the place grew darker, till 



9-1 LOST IN A ST OEM. 

two men of the party thought it well to look outside. Dig- 
ging to the surface, the depth proved much greater than ex- 
pected. 

Quite exhausted with their labor, they gained the open air, 
and found the storm had not ceased. Alarmed for their com- 
panions they tried to reach them, but the hole where they 
ascended was completely filled. The snow drifted rapidly, 
and they were obliged to change their position often to keep 
near the surface. When the poorga ended they estimated it 
had left fifty feet of snow in that spot. 

Again endeavoring to rescue their companions, and in their 
weak condition finding it impossible, they sought the nearest 
camp. In the following summer the remains of men and 
dogs were found where the melting snow left them. They 
had huddled close together, and probahlj perished from suf- 
focation- 




CHAPTER VIII. 

WE remained four days at Ghijiga and then sailed for 
Ohotsk. For two days we steamed to get well out 
of the bay, and then stopped the engines and depended upon 
canvas. A boy who once offered a dog for sale was asked 
the breed of the pup. 

"He was a pointer," replied the youth; " but father cut 
off his ears and tail last week and made a bull-dog of him." 

Lowering the chimney and hoisting the screw, the Variag 
became a sailing ship, though her steaming propensities re- 
mained, just as the artificial bull-dog undoubtedly retained 
the pointer instinct. The ship had an advantage over the 
animal in her' ability to resume her old character at pleasure. 

On the fourth day, during a calm, we were surrounded by 
sea-gulls like those near San Francisco. We made deep sea 
soundings and obtained specimens of the bottom from depths 
of two or three hundred fathoms. Near the entrance of 
Ghijiga Bay we brought up coral from eighty fathoms of 
water, and refuted the theory that coral grows only in the 
tropics and at a depth of less than two hundred feet. The 
specimens were both white and red, resembling the moss-like 
sprigs often seen in museums. The temperature of the water 
was 47° Fahrenheit. Captain Lund told me coral had been 
found in the Ohotsk sea in latitude 55° in a bed of consider- 
able extent. 

Every day when calm we made soundings, which were 
carefully recorded for the use of Russian chart makers. 
Once we found that the temperature of the bottom at a depth 
of two hundred fathoms, was at the freezing point of water. 

(95) 



96 A SLIGHT MISHAP. 

The doctor proposed that a bottle of champagne should be 
cooled in the marine refrigerator. The bottle was attached 
to the lead and thrown overboard. 

" I send champagne to Neptune," said the doctor. " He 
drink him and he be happy." 

When the lead returned to the surface it came alone. 
Neptune drank the champagne and retained the bottle as a 
souvenir. 

One day the sailors caught a gull and painted it red. When 
the bird was released he greatly alarmed his companions, and 
as long as we could see them they shunned his society. At 
least eighty miles from land we had a dozen sparrows around 
us at once. A small hawk seized one of these birds and 
seated himself on a spar for the purpose of breakfasting. A 
fowling piece brought him to the deck, where we examined 
and pronounced him of the genus Falco, species NISUS, or 
in plain English, a sparrow hawk. During the day we saw 
three varieties of small birds, one of them resembling the 
American robin. The sailors caught two in their hands, and 
released them without injury. 

Approaching Ohotsk a fog bank shut out the land for an 
hour or two, and when it lifted we discovered the harbor. A 
small sand-bar intervened between the ocean and the town, 
but did not intercept the view. As at Petropavlovsk, the 
church was the most prominent object and formed an excellent 
landmark. With my glass I surveyed the line of coast where 
the surf was breaking, but was long unable to discover an 
entering place. The Ohota river is the only harbor, and en- 
tirely inaccessible to a ship like the Variag. 

Descending the ship's side after we anchored, I jumped 
when the boat was falling and went down five or six feet be- 
fore alighting. Both hands were blistered as the gang-way 
ropes passed through them. Keeping the beacons carefully 
in line, we rolled over the bar on the top of a high wave, and 
then followed the river channel to the landing. 

Many years ago Ohotsk was the most important Russian 
port on the waters leading to the Pacific. Supplies for Kam- 



TAKING IN THE STRANGERS. 97 

chatka and Russian America were brought overland from 
Yakutsk and shipped to Petropavlovsk, Sitka, and other points 
under Russian control. Many ships for the Pacific Ocean and 
Ohotsk sea were built there. I was shown the spot where 
Bering's vessel was constructed, with its cordage and extra 
sails of deerskin, and its caulking of moss. Billings' expe- 
dition in a ship called Russia's Glory, was organized here for 
an exploration of the Arctic ocean. At one time the Gov- 
ernment had foundries and workshops at Ohotsk. The shal- 
lowness of water on the bar was a great disadvantage, as 
ships drawing more than twelve feet were unable to enter. 
Twenty years ago the government abandoned Ohotsk for Ayan, 
and when the Amoor was opened it gave up the latter place. 
The population, formerly exceeding two thousand, is now less 
than two hundred. 

We landed on a gravelly beach, where we were met by a 
crowd of Cossacks and " Lamuti." The almond-shaped eyes 
and high cheek bones of the latter betray their Mongolian 
origin. As I walked among them each hailed me with 
' sdrastveteh,' the Russian for ' good-morning.' I endeavored 
to reply with the same word, but my pronunciation was far 
from accurate. Near these natives there were several Yakuts 
and Tunguze, with physiognomies unlike the others. The 
Russian empire contains more races of men than any rival 
government, and we frequently find the population of a single 
locality made up from two or more branches of the human 
family. In this little town with not more than ten or twelve 
dozens of inhabitants, there were representatives of the Sla- 
vonic, the Tartar, and the Mongolian races. 

We found Captain Mahood, of the Telegraph service, in a 
quiet residence, where he had passed the summer in compari- 
tive idleness. He had devoted himself to exploring the 
country around Ohotsk and studying the Russian language. 
" We don't expect to starve at present," said the captain ; 
" Providence sends us fish, the emperor sends us flour, and 
the merchants furnish tea and sugar. We have lived so long 



98 



CORNED BEEF AND CIGARETTES, 



on a simple bill of fare that we are almost unfitted for any 
other." 

We had a lunch of dried fish, tea, whisky, and cigars, and 
soon after went to take tea at a house where most of the 
Variag's officers were assembled. The house was the prop- 
erty of three brothers, who conducted the entire commerce 
of Ohotsk. The floor of the room where we were feasted 
was of hewn plank, fastened with enormous nails, and ap- 
peared able to resist anything short of an earthquake. The 
windows were double to keep out the winter's cold, but on 
that occasion they displayed a profusion of flower pots. The 
walls were papered, and many pictures were hung upon them. 
Every part of the room was scrupulously clean. 




WAGON RIDE WITH DOGS. 



Three ladies were seated on a sofa, and a fourth occupied 
a chair near them. The three were the wives of the merchant 
brothers, and the fourth a visiting friend. One with black 
eyes and hair was dressed tastefully and even elaborately. 
The eldest, who acted as hostess, was in black, and her ease 
in receiving visitors would have done credit to a society dame 
in St. Petersburg. By way of commencement we had tea 
and nalifka, the latter a kind of currant wine of local manu- 
facture and very well flavored. They gave us corned beef 
and bread, each person taking his plate upon his knee as at 
an American pic-nic, and after two or three courses of edibles 



FISH STOEY ABOUT A COW. 99 

we had coffee and cigarettes, the latter from a manufactory 
at Yakutsk. According to Russian etiquette each of us 
thanked the hostess for her courtesy. 

Out in the broad street there were many dogs lying idle in 
the sunshine or biting each other. A small wagon with a 
team of nine dogs carried a quantity of tea and sugar from 
the Yariag's boats to a warehouse. When the work was 
finished I took a ride on the wagon, and was carried at good 
speed. I enjoyed the excursion until the vehicle upset and 
left me sprawling on the gravel with two or three bruises and 
a prejudice against that kind of traveling. By the time I 
gained my feet the dogs were disappearing in the distance, 
and fairly running away from the driver. Possibly they are 
running yet. 

An old weather beaten church and equally old barracks are 
near each other, an appropriate arrangement in a country 
where church and state are united. The military garrison 
includes thirty Cossacks, who are under the orders of the 
Ispravnik. They row the pilot boat when needed, travel on 
courier or other service, guard the warehouses, and when not 
wanted by government labor and get drunk for themselves. 
The governor was a native of Poland, and it struck me as a 
curious fact that the ispravniks of Kamchatka, Ghijiga, and 
Ohotsk were Poles. 

Cows and dogs are the only stock maintained at Ohotsk. 
The former live on grass in summer, and on hay and fish in 
winter. Though repeatedly told that cows and horses in 
Northeastern Siberia would eat dried fish with avidity, I was 
inclined to skepticism. Captain Mahood told me he had seen 
them eating fish in winter and appearing to thrive on it. 
What was more singular, he had seen a cow eating fresh sal- 
mon in summer when the hills were covered with grass. 

There is a story that Cuvier in a fit of illness, once im- 
agined His Satanic Majesty standing before him. 

" Ah ! " said the great naturalist, " horns, hoofs ; graniver- 
ous ; needn't fear him." 

I wonder if Cuvier knew the taste of the cows at Ohotsk ? 



100 



DOGS CATCHING SALMON. 



No ship had visited Ohotsk for nearly a year before our ar- 
rival, though half a dozen whalers had passed in sight. A 
steamer goes annually from the Amoor with a supply of flour 
and salt on government account. The mail comes once a 

year, so that the 
postmaster has 
very little to do 
for three hundred 
and sixty-four 
days. Sometimes 
the mail misses, 
and then people 
must wait another 
twelvemonth for 
their letters. 
What a nice resi- 
dence it would be 
for a young man 
whose sweetheart 
at a distance writes 
him every day. 
He would get three hundred and sixty-five letters at once, and 
in the case of a missing mail, seven hundred and thirty of 
them. 

Bears are quite numerous around Ohotsk, and their dispo- 
sitions do not savor of gentleness. Only a few days before 
our visit a native was partly' devoured within two miles of 
town. 

Many of the dogs are shrewd enough to catch their own 
fish, but have not learned how to cure them for winter use. 
When at Ohotsk I went to the bank of the river as the tide 
was coming in, and watched the dogs at their work. Wading 
on the sand bars and mud flats till the water was almost over 
their backs, they stood like statues for several minutes. 
Waiting till a salmon was fairly within reach, a dog would 
snap at him with such accuracy of aim that he rarely missed. 
I kept my eye on a shaggy brute that stood with little more 




TEARLT MAIL. 



UP AND AWAY, 



101 




DOGS PISHING. 



than his head out of water. His eyes were in a fixed posi- 
tion, and for twelve or fifteen minutes he did not move a mus- 
cle. Suddenly his head disappeared, and after a brief strug- 
gle he came to shore with a ten-pound salmon in his jaws. 
None of the cows are skilled in salmon catching. 

Two or 
three years 
ago a mail 
carrier from 
Ayan to Ya- 
kutsk was 
visited by a 
bear during 
a night halt. 
The mail 
bag was ly- 
ing by a tree 
a few steps 
from the 
Cossack, 

and near the bank of a brook. The bear seized and opened 
the pouch, regardless of the government seal on the outside. 
After turning the letter package several times in his paws, he 
tossed it into the brook. The Cossack discharged his pistol 
to frighten the bear, and then fished the letters from the 
water. It is proper to say the package was addressed to an 
officer somewhat famous for his bear-hunting proclivities. 

When we left Oliotsk at the close of day, we took Captain 
Mahood and the governor to dine with us, and when our guests 
departed we hoisted anchor and steamed away. Captain 
Lund burned a blue light as a farewell signal, and we could 
see an answering fire on shore. Our course lay directly 
southward, and when our light was extinguished we were 
barely visible through the distance and gloom. 

" But true to our course, though our shadow grow dark, 

We'll trim our broad sail as before ; 
And stand by the rudder that governs the bark, 

Nor ask how we look from the shore." 



CHAPTER IX. 

k N the Ohotsk Sea we had calms with light winds, and 
made very slow progress. One day while the men 
were exercising at the guns, the look out reported a sail. 
We were just crossing the course from Ayan to Ghijiga, and 
were in the Danzig's track. The strange vessel shortened 
sail and stood to meet us, and before long we were satisfied 
it was our old acquaintance. At sunset we were several 
miles apart and nearing very slowly. The night was one of 
the finest I ever witnessed at sea ; the moon full and not a 
cloud visible, and the wind carrying us four or five miles an 
hour. The brig was lying to, and we passed close under her 
stern, shortening our sail as we approached her. Everybody 
was on deck and curious to learn the news. 

" Sdrastveteh," shouted Captain Lund when we were in 
hearing distance. 

" Sdrastveteh," responded the clear voice of Phillipeus ; 
and then followed the history of the Danzig's voyage. 

" We had a good voyage to Ayan, and staid there four 
days. We are five days out, and passed through a heavy 
gale on the second day. Going to Ghijiga." 

Then we replied with the story of our cruise and asked for 
news from Europe. 

" War in progress — France and Austria against Prussia, 
Italy, and Russia. No particulars." 

By this time the ships were separated and our conversation 
ended. It was conducted in Russian, but I knew enough of 
the language to comprehend what was said. There was a 

(102) 



A CROOKED PASSAGE. 103 

universal " eh ! " of astonishment as the important sentence 
was completed, 

Here were momentous tidings ; France and Russia taking 
part in a war that was not begun when I left America. A 
French fleet was in Japanese waters and might be watching 
for us. It had two ships, either of them stronger than the 
Variag. 

As the Danzig disappeared we went below. " I hoped to 
go home at the end of this voyage," said the captain as we 
seated around his table ; " but we must now remain in the 
Pacific. War has come and may give us glory or the grave ; 
possibly both." 

For an hour we discussed the intelligence and the proba- 
bilities of its truth. As we separated, Captain Lund repeated 
with emphasis his opinion that the news was false. 

" I do not believe it," said he ; " but I must prepare for 
any emergency." 

In the wardroom the officers were exultant over the pros- 
pect of promotion and prize money. The next day the me«, 
were exercised at the guns, and for the rest of the voyage 
they could not complain of ennui. The deck was cleared of 
all superfluous rubbish, and we were ready for a battle. The 
shotted case for the signal books was made ready, and other 
little preparations attended to. I seemed carried back to my 
days of war, and had vivid recollections of being stormed at 
with shot and shell. 

From Ohotsk to the mouth of the Amoor is a direct course 
of about four hundred miles. A light draught steamer would 
have made short work of it, but we drew too much water to 
enter the northern passage. So we were forced to sail through 
La Perouse Straits and up the Gulf of Tartary to De Castries 
Bay. The voyage was more than twelve hundred miles in 
length, and had several turnings. It was like going from 
New York to Philadelphia through Harrisburg, or from Paris 
to London through Brussels and Edinboro'. 

A good wind came to our relief and took us rapidly through 
La Perouse straits. There is a high rock in the middle of 



104 AN EXCITING MOMENT. 

the passage covered with sea-lions, like those near San Fran- 
cisco. In nearly all weather the roaring of these creatures 
can be heard, and is a very good substitute for a fog-bell. I 
am not aware that any government allows, a subsidy to the 
sea-lions. 

We saw the northern coast of Japan and the southern end 
of Sakhalin, both faint and shadowy in the fog and distance. 
The wind freshened to a gale, and we made twelve knots an 
hour under double reefed mainsails and topsails. In the nar- 
row straits we escaped the heavy waves encountered at sea in 
a similar breeze. Turning at right angles in the Gulf of 
Tartary, we began to roll until walking was no easy matter. 
The wind abated so that by night we shook out our reefs and 
spread the royals and to'gallant sails to keep up our speed. 

As we approached De Castries the question of war was 
again discussed. 

" If I find only one French ship there," said the captain, 
" I shall proceed. If there are two I cannot fight them, and 
must run to San Francisco or some other neutral port." 

Just then San Francisco was the last place I desired to 
visit, but I knew I must abide the fortunes of war. We 
talked of the possibility of convincing a French captain that 
we were engaged in an international enterprise, and therefore 
not subject to capture. Anossoff joined me in arranging a 
plan to cover contingencies. 

As we approached De Castries we could see the spars of a 
large ship over the islands at the entrance of the harbor. A 
moment later she was announced. 

" A corvette, with steam up." 

She displayed her flag — an English one. As we dropped 
anchor in the harbor a boat came to us, and an officer 
mounted the side and descended to the cabin. The ship 
proved to be the British Corvette Scylla, just ready to sail for 
Japan. Escaping her we did not encounter Charybdis. The 
mission of the Scylla was entirely pacific, and her officer in- 
formed us there had been war between Prussia and Austria, 



CHANGING QUARTERS. 105 

but at last accounts all Europe was at peace. The war of 
1866 was finished long before I knew of its commencement. 
• De Castries Bay is on the Gulf of Tartary, a hundred and 
thirty-five miles from Nicolayevsk. La Perouse discovered 
and surveyed it in 1787, and named it in honor of the French 
Minister of Marine. It is in Lat. 51° 28' N., Lon. 140° 49' 
E., and affords good and safe anchorage. Near the entrance 
are several islands, which protect ships anchored behind them. 
The largest of these islands is occupied as a warehouse and 
coal depot, and has an observatory and signal station visible 
from the Gulf. The town is small, containing altogether less 
than fifty buildings. It is a kind of ocean port to Nicolayevsk 
and the Amoor river, but the settlement was never a flourish- 
ing one. 

Twelve miles from the landing is the end of Lake Keezee, 
which opens into the Amoor a hundred and fifty miles from 
its mouth. It was formerly the custom to send couriers by 
way of Lake Keezee and the Amoor to Nicolayevsk to notify 
consigners and officials of the arrival of ships. Now the 
telegraph is in operation and supercedes the courier. 

In 1855 an English fleet visited De Castries in pursuit of 
some Russian vessels known to have ascended the Gulf. 
When the fleet came in sight there were four Russian ships 
in port, and a few shots were exchanged, none of them taking 
effect. During a heavy fog in the following night and day 
the Russians escaped and ascended the Straits of Tartary 
toward the Amoor. The Aurora, the largest of these ships, 
threw away her guns, anchors, and every heavy article, and 
succeeded in entering the Amoor. The English lay near De 
Castries, and could not understand where the Russians had 
gone, as the southern entrance of the Amoor was then un- 
known to geographers. 

"We reached this port on the morning of September eleventh. 
The Variag could go no further owing to her draft of water, 
but fortunately the Morje, a gunboat of the Siberian fleet, was 
to sail for Nicolayevsk at noon, and we were happily disap- 
pointed in our expectations of waiting several days at De 



106 THE SIBERIAN FLEET. 

Castries. About eleven o'clock I left the Variag and accom- 
panied Captain Lund, the doctor, and Mr. Anassoff into the 
boat dancing at the side ladder. Half an hour after we 
boarded the Morje she was under way, and we saw the officers 
and men of the corvette waving us farewell. 

The Morje drew eight feet of water, and was admirably 
adapted to the sea coast service. There were several vessels 
of this class in the Siberian fleet, and their special duty was 
to visit the ports of Kamchatka, North Eastern Siberia, and 
Manjouria, and act as tow boats along the Straits of Tartary. 
The officers commanding them are sent from Russia, and 
generally remain ten years in this service. At the end of 
that time, if they wish to retire they can do so and receive 
half-pay for the rest of their lives. This privilege is not 
granted to officers in other squadrons, and is given on the 
Siberian station in consequence of the severer duties and the 
distance from the centers of civilization. 

In its military service the government makes inducements 
of pay and promotion to young officers who go to Siberia. I 
frequently met officers who told me they had sought appoint- 
ments in the Asiatic department in preference to any other. 
The pay and allowances are better than in European Russia, 
promotion is more rapid, and the necessities of life are gen- 
erally less costly. Duties are more onerous and privations 
are greater, but these drawbacks are of little consequence to 
an enterprising and ambitious soldier. 

The Morje had no accommodations for passengers, and the 
addition to her complement was something serious. Captain 
Lund, the doctor, Mr. Anassoff, and myself were guests of 
her captain. The cabin was given to us to arrange as best 
we could. My proposal to sleep under the table was laughed 
at as impracticable. I knew what I was about, having clone 
the same thing years before on Mississippi steamers. When 
you must sleep on the floor where people may walk about, 
alwaysgtet under the table if possible. You run less risk of 
receiving boot heels in your mouth and eyes, and whole acres 
of brogans in your ribs. 



IN THE STRAITS OP TARTARY, 



107 



The navigation of the Straits of Tartary is very intricate, 
the water being shallow and the channel tortuous. From 




TEACHINGS OF EXPERIENCE. 



De Castries to Cape Catherine there is no difficulty, but be- 
yond the cape the channel winds like the course of the Ohio, 
and at many points bends quite abruptly. The government 
has surveyed and buoyed it with considerable care, so that a 
good pilot can take a light draught steamer from De Castries 
to Nicolayevsk in twelve or fifteen hours. Sailing ships are 
greatly retarded by head winds and calms, and often spend 
weeks on the voyage. In 1857 Major Collins was nineteen 
days on the barque Bering from one of these ports to the 
other. 

In the straits we passed four, vessels, one of them thirty 
days from De Castries and only half through the worst of 
the passage. The water shoals so rapidly in some places 
that it is necessary to sound on both sides of the ship at once. 
Vessels drawing- less than ten feet can pass to the Ohotsk sea 
around the northern end of Sakhalin island, but the ehannel 
is even more crooked than the southern one. 

We anchored at sunset, and did not move till daybreak. 



108 SEEVICE ON THE WATERS. — A MIRAGE. 

At the hour of sunset, on this vessel as on the corvette, we 
had the evening chant of the service of the Eastern church. 
While it was in progress a sentinel on duty over the cabin 
held his musket in his left hand and made the sign of the 
cross with his right. Soldier and Christian at the same mo- 
ment, he observed the outward ceremonial of both. The 
crew, with uncovered heads, stood upon the deck and chanted 
the prayer. As the prayer was uttered the national flag, 
lowered from the mast, seemed, like those beneath it, to bow 
in adoration of the Being who holds the waters in the hollow 
of His hand, and guides and controls the universe. 

While passing the straits of Tartary we observed a mirage 
of great beauty, that pictured the shores of Sakhalin like a 
tropical scene. We seemed to distinguish cocoa and palm 
trees, dark forests and waving fields of cane, along the rocky 
shores, that were really below the horizon. Then there were 
castles, with lofty walls and frowning battlements, cloud-cap- 
ped towers, gorgeous palaces, and solemn temples, rising 
among the fields and forests, and overarched with curious 
combinations of rainbow hues. The mirage frequently occurs 
in this region, but I was told it rarely attained such beauty 
as on that occasion. 

Sakhalin island, which separates the Gulf of Tartary from 
the Ohotsk sea, extends through nine degrees of latitude and 
belongs partly to Eussia and partly to Japan. The Japanese 
have settlements in the Southern portion, engaging in trade 
with the natives and catching and curing fish. The natives 
are of Tunguze origin, like those of the lower Amoor, and 
subsist mainly upon fish. The Russians have settlements at 
Cape Dui, where there is excellent coal in veins eighteen feet 
thick and quite near the coast. Eussia desired the entire is- 
land, but the Japanese positively refuse to negotiate. Some 
years age the Siberian authorities established a colony near 
the Southern extremity, but its existence was brief. 

At three o'clock in the afternoon of September eleventh we 
entered the mouth of the Amoor, the great river of Asiatic 
Eussia. The entrance is between two Capes or headlands, 



RUSSIAN MODE OF STEERING. 109 

seven miles apart and two or three hundred feet high. The 
southern one, near which we passed, is called Cape Pronge, 
and has a Gilyack village at its base. Below this cape the 
hills border the Gulf and frequently show precipitous sides. 
The shallow water at their base renders the land undesirable 
for settlement. The timber is small and indicates the sever- 
ity of the cold seasons. In their narrowest part the Straits 
are eight miles wide and frozen in winter. The natives have 
a secure bridge of ice for at least four months of the year. 
De Castries Bay is generally filled with ice and unsafe for 
vessels from October to March. 

From the time we entered the Gulf of Tartary the water 
changed its color, growing steadily dirtier until we reached 
the Amoor. At the mouth of the river I found it a weak tea 
complexion, like the Ohio at its middle stage, and was told 
that it varied through all the shades common to rivers ac- 
cording to its height and the circumstances of season. I 
doubt if it ever assumes the hue of the Missouri or the 
Sacramento, though it is by no means impossible. 

Passing Cape Pronge and looking up the river, a back- 
ground of hills and mountains made a fine landscape with 
beautiful lights and shadows from the afternoon sun. The 
channel is marked with stakes and buoys and with beacons 
along the shore. The pilots when steering frequently turned 
their backs to the bow of the steamer and watched the bea- 
cons over the stern. As we approached Nicolayevsk there 
was a mirage that made the ships in port appear as if anchored 
in the town itself. 

We passed Chinyrack, the fortress that guards the river, 
and is surrounded, as if for concealment, with a grove of 
trees. Along the bank above Chinyrack there are warehouses 
of various kinds, all belonging to government. Soon after 
dark we anchored before the town, and below several other 
vessels. My sea travel was ended till I should reach Atlantic 
waters. 



CHAPTER X. 

AT Nicolayevsk it is half a mile from the anchorage to 
the shore. A sand spit projects from the lower end 
of the town and furnishes a site for government workshops 
and foundries. Above this tongue of land the water is shal- 
low and allows only light draft and flat bottomed boats to 
come to the piers. All sea-going vessels remain in mid- 
stream, where they are discharged by lighters. There is 
deeper water both above and below the town, and I was told 
that a change of site had been meditated. The selection of 
the spot where Nicolayevsk stands was owing to the advan- 
tages of the sand spit as a protection to river boats. 

After dining on the Morje we went on shore, and landed at 
a flight of wooden steps in the side of a pier. The piers of 
Nicolayevsk are constructed with ' cribs ' about twenty feet 
apart and strong timbers connecting them. The flooring was 
about six feet above water, and wide enough for two teams to 
pass. 

Turning to the left at the end of the pier, we found a plank 
sidewalk ascending a sloping road in the hillside. The pier 
reminded me of Boston or New York, but it lacked the huge 
warehouses a^id cheerful hackmen to render the similarity 
complete. " This is Natchez, Mississippi," I said as we moved 
up the hill, " and this is Cairo, Illinois," as my feet struck 
the plank sidewalk. The sloping road came to an end sooner 
than at Natchez, and the sidewalk did not reveal any pitfalls 
like those in Cairo a few years ago. The bluff where the 
city stands is about fifty feet high, and the ascent of the road 
so gentle that one must be very weak to find it fatiguing. 

(110) 



A GOVERNMENT TOWN. Ill 

The officers who came on shore with me went to the club 
rooms to pass the evening. I sought the residence of Mr. 
H. G. 0. Chase, the Commercial Agent of the United States, 
and representative of the house of Boardman. I found him 
living very comfortably in bachelor quarters that contained a 
library and other luxuries of civilization. In his sitting-room 
there was a map of the Russian empire and one of Boston, 
and there were lithographs and steel engravings, exhibiting 
the good taste of the owner. 

Rising early the next morning, I began a study of the town. 
Nicolayevsk was founded in 1853 in the interest of the Rus- 
sian government, but nominally as a trading post of the Rus- 
sian American Company. Very soon it became a military 
post, and its importance increased with the commencement 
of hostilities between Russia and the Western powers in 
1854. Foundries were established, fortifications built, ware- 
houses erected, and docks laid out from time to time, until 
the place has attained a respectable size. Its population in 
1866 was about five thousand, with plenty of houses for all 
residents. 

Nicolayevsk is emphatically a government town, five-sixths 
of the inhabitants being directly or indirectly in the emperor's 
employ. "What is this building?" I asked, pointing to a 
neat house on the principal street. " The residence of the 
Admiral," was the reply. 

" And this ? " 

" That is the Chancellerie." 

" And this ? " 

" The office of the Captain of the Port." 

So I questioned till three-fourths the larger and better es- 
tablishments had been indicated. Nearly all were in some 
way connected with government. Many of the inhabitants 
are employed in the machine shops, others in the arsenals 
and warehouses, and a goodly number engage in soldiering. 
The multitude of whisky shops induces the belief that the 
verb 'to soldier' is conjugated in all its moods and tenses. 



112 A SIBERIAN FOUNDRY. 

The best part of the town is along its front, where there is a 
wide and well made street called ' the Prospect.' 

The best houses are on the Prospect, and include the resi* 
dences of the chief officials and the merchants. On the back 
streets is the ' SlobodkaJ or poorer part of the town. Here 
the laborers of every kind have their dwellings, and here the 
lafka is most to be found. Lafkas are chiefly devoted to 
liquor selling, and are as numerous in proportion to the popu- 
lation as beer-shops in Chicago. I explored the ' slobodkaf 
but did not find it attractive. Dogs were as plentiful and as 
dubious in breed and character as in the Sixth Ward or near 
Castle Garden. 

The church occupies a prominent position in the foreground 
of the town, and, like nearly all edifices at Nicolayevsk, is 
built of logs. Back of it is the chancellerie, or military and 
civil office, with a flag-staff and semaphore for signalling ves- 
sels in the harbor. Of other public buildings I might name 
the naval office, police office, telegraph house, and a dozen 
others. 

On the morning after my arrival I called on Admiral Ful- 
yelm, the governor of the Maritime Provinces of Eastern 
Siberia. The region he controls includes Kamchatka and all 
the seacoast down to Corea, and has an area of nearly seven 
hundred and fifty thousand square miles. He had been only 
a few months in Gommand, and was busily at work regulating 
his department. He spoke English fluently, and was well 
acquainted with America and American affairs. During my 
voyage on the Variag I heard much of the charming man- 
ners of Madame Fulyelm, and regretted to learn she was 
spending the summer in the country. 

The machine shops, foundries, and dock-yard are described 
in Russian by the single word ' port.' I visited the port of 
Nicolayevsk and found it more extensive than one might ex- 
pect in this new region. There were machines for rolling, 
planing, cutting, casting, drilling, hammering, punching, and 
otherwise treating and maltreating iron. There were shops 
for sawing, planing, polishing, turning, and twisting all sorts 



THE SERVANT-GAL QUESTION. 113 

of wood, and there were other shops where copper and brass 
could take any coppery or brassy shape desired. To sum up 
the port in a few words, its managers can make or repair 
marine and other engines, and produce any desired wood- 
work for house building or ship repairing. They build ships 
and equip them with machinery ready for sea. 

The establishment is under the direct supervision of Mr. 
Woods, an American citizen of Scotch birth. Mr. Elliott, a 
Massachusetts Yankee, and Mr. Laney, an Englishman, are 
connected with the affair. Mr. Elliott had become a perman- 
ent fixture by marrying a Russian woman and purchasing a 
commodious house The three men appeared to take great 
pride in what they had accomplished in perfecting the port. 

It was a little curious to see at the mouth of the Amoor a 
steam fire engine from the Amoskeag Works at Manchester, 
N. H. The engine was labelled ' Amoor ' in Russian charac- 
ters, and appeared to be well treated. A house was assigned 
it, and watchmen were constantly on duty. The whole town 
being of wood it is highly important that the engine should 
act promptly in case of fire. The supply of hose was ample 
for all emergencies. 

Several heavy guns were shown me, which were hauled 
overland from the Ural Mountains during the Crimean war 
and brought in boats down the Amoor. The expense of 
transporting them must have been enormous, their journey 
by roads to the head of the river being fully three thousand 
miles. 

I spent a morning with Mr. Chase in calling upon several 
foreign merchants and their families. The most prominent 
of the merchants is Mr. Ludorf, a German, who went there 
in 1856, and has transacted a heavy business on the Amoor 
and in Japan and China. Mrs. Ludorf followed her husband 
in 1858, and was the first foreign lady to enter Nicolayevsk. 

The most interesting topic to Mr. Chase and the ladies was 
that of cooks. Within two weeks there had been much 
trouble with the chefs de cuisine, and every housekeeper was 
in deep grief. Servants are the universal discomfort from 



114 NATIVES OF THE A MOOR. 

the banks of the Hudson to those of the Amoor. Man to be 
happy must return to the primitive stages of society before 
cooks and housemaids were invented. 

The hills around Nicolayevsk are covered with forests of 
small pines. Timber for house building purposes is rafted 
from points on the Amoor where trees are larger. For- 
merly the town was in the midst of a forest, but the vicinity 
is now pretty well cleared. Going back from the river, the 
streets begin grandly, and promise a great deal they do not 
perform. For one or two squares they are good, the third 
square is passable, the fourth is full of stumps, and when you 
reach the fifth and sixth, there is little .street to be found. I 
never saw a better illustration of the road that commenced 
with a double row of shade trees, and steadily diminished in 
character until it became a squirrel-track and ran up a tree. 
There is very little agriculture in the vicinity, the soil and 
climate being unfavorable. The chief supply of vegetables 
comes from the settlements on the south bank of the river 
up to Lake Keezee, and along the shores of the lake. All 
the ordinary garden vegetables are raised, and in some local- 
ities they attain goodly size. 

Every morning there was a lively scene at the river's edge 
in front of the town. Peasants from the farming settlements 
were there with articles for sale, and a vigorous chaffering 
was in progress. There were soldiers in grey coats, sailors 
from the ships in the harbor, laborers in clothing more or less 
shabby, and a fair sprinkling of aboriginals. To an Ameri- 
can freshly arrived the natives were quite a study. They 
were of the Mongol type, their complexions dark, hair black, 
eyes obliquely set; noses flat, and cheek bones high. Most 
of them had the hair jDlaited in a queue after the Chinese 
fashion. Some wore boots of untanned skin, and a few had 
adopted those of Russian make. They generally wear blouses 
or frocks after the Chinese pattern, and the most of them 
could be readily taken for shabby Celestials. 

Their hats were of two kinds, some of felt and turned up 
at the sides, and others of decorated birch bark shaped like 



BOAT LOAD OF SALMON. 



115 



a parasol. These hats were an excellent protection against 
sun and rain, but could hardly be trusted in a high wind. 
All these men were inveterate smokers, and carried their pipes 
and tobacco pouches at their waists. Most had sheath knives 
attached to belts, and some carried flint, steel, and tinder. 
They formed picturesque groups, some talking with purchas- 
ers and others collected around fires or near their piles of 
fish. 

As I stood on the bank, a Gilyak boat came near me with 
a full cargo of salmon. The boat was built very high at bow 
and stern, 
and its 
bottom 
was a sin- 
gle plank, jjj 
greatly 
curved. 
It was pro- 
pelled by 
a wo m a n 
m a n i p u 
lating a 
pair of 
oars with 

blades shaped like spoon-bowls, beaten flat, which she pulled 
alternately with a kind of ' hand-over-hand ' process. This 
mode of rowing is universal among the Gilyaks, but does not 
prevail with other natives along the Amoor. 

Whenever I approached a group of Gilyaks I was promptly 
hailed with 'reba! reba!' (fish! fish!) I shook my head 
and uttered nierte (no,) and our conversation ceased. The 
salmon were in piles along the shore or lying in the native 
boats. Fishing was not a monopoly of the Gilyaks, as I saw 
several Russians engaged in the business. They appeared 
on the best terms with their aboriginal neighbors. 

Salmon are abundant in the Amoor and as much a neces- 
sity of life as in Northern Siberia. They are not as good as 




BOAT LOATt OF SALMON. 



116 



PRIMITIVE WATER-WORKS. 



in Kamchatka, and I believe it is the rule that the salmon 
deteriorates as one goes toward the south. Possibly the 
quality of the Amoor salmon is owing to the time the fish re- 
main in the brackish waters of the Straits of Tartary. The 
fishing season is the only busy portion of the year with the 
natives. 

The town is supplied with water by carts like those used 
in many places along our Western rivers. For convenience 




AN EFFECTIVE PROTEST. 



in filling the driver goes into the stream until the water is 
pretty well up his horse's sides. A bucket attached to a long 
handle is used for dipping, and moves very leisurely. I saw 
one driver go so far from shore that his horse protested in 
dumb but expressive show. The animal turned and walked 
to land, over-setting the cart and spilling the driver into the 
water. There was a volley of Russian epithets, but the horse 
did not observe them. 



THE AMOOE COMPANY. 117 

At a photographic establishment I purchased several views 
of the city and surrounding region. I' sought a watch dealer 
in the hope of replacing my broken time piece, but was un- 
successful. v I finally succeeded in purchasing a cheap watch 
of so curious workmanship that it ran itself out and utterly 
stopped within a week. 

One evening in the public garden a military band furnished 
creditable music, and I was told that it was formed by select- 
ing men from the ranks, most of whom had never played a 
single note on any instrument. Writers on Russia twenty 
years ago said that men were frequently assigned to work 
they had never seen performed. If men were wanted for any 
government service a draft was made, just as for filling the 
army, and when the recruits arrived they were distributed. 
One was detailed for a blacksmith, and straightway went to 
his anvil and began. Another was told to be a machinist, 
and received his tools. He seated himself at his bench, 
watched his neighbor at work, and commenced with little de- 
lay. Another became a glass-blower, another a lapidary, 
another a musician, and so on through all the trades. 

I have heard that an Ohio colonel in our late war had a 
fondness for never being outdone by rivals. One day his 
chaplain told him that a work of grace was going on in the 
army. " Fifteen men," said he, " were baptized last Sunday 
in Colonel Blank's regiment, and the reformation is still going 
on." Without replying the colonel called his adjutant. 

" Captain," was the command, " detail twenty men for bap- 
tism at once. I won't be outdone by any other regiment 

in the army." 

Near the river there are several large buildings, formerly 
belonging to the Amoor Company, an institution that closed 
its affairs in the summer of 1866. After the opening of the 
Amoor this company was formed in St. Petersburg with a 
paid up or guaranteed capital of nearly half a million pounds 
sterling. Its object was the control of trade on the Amoor 
and its tributaries, and the general development of commerce 
in Northern Asia. 



118 PEOPLING THE COUNTRY. 

It began operations in 1858, but was unfortunate from the 
beginning. In 1859 it sent out three ships, two of which 
were lost between De Castries and Nicolayevsk. Each of 
them had valuable cargoes, and the iron and machinery for 
two river steamers. The third ship arrived safely, and a 
steamer which she brought was put together during the winter. 
It struck a rock and sunk on its first voyage up the river. 
The misfortunes of the company in following years did not 
'come quite as thick, but their number was ample. 

The company's dividends were invariably Hibernian. It 
lost money from the beginning, and after spending two and a 
half million dollars, closed its affairs and went up in a bal- 
loon. 

The Russian government has been disappointed in the re- 
sult of opening the Amoor. Ten years ago it was thought a 
great commerce would spring up, but the result has been 
otherwise. There can be no traffic where there are no people 
to trade with, and when the Amoor was opened the country 
was little better than a wilderness. The natives were not a 
mercantile community. There was only one Manjour city on 
the bank of the Amoor, and for some time its people were 
not allowed to trade with Russians. Even when it was 
opened it had no important commerce, as it was far removed 
from the silk, tea, or porcelain districts of China. Plainly 
the dependence must be upon colonization. 

The Amoor was peopled under government patronage, 
many settlers coming from the Trans-Baikal province, and 
others from European Russia. Nearly all were poor and 
brought very little money to their new homes. Many were 
Cossacks and soldiers, and not reconciled to hard labor. 
During the first two years of their residence the Amoor col- 
onists were supplied with flour at government expense, but 
after that it was expected they could support themselves. 
Most of the colonies were half military in their character, 
being composed of Cossacks, with their families. On the 
lower part of the Amoor, outside the military posts, the set- 
tlers were peasants. 



AGRICULTURE AND THE FORESTS. 119 

Flour was carried from St. Petersburg to the Amoor to 
supply the garrison and the newly arrived settlers. The pro- 
duction is not yet sufficient for the population, and when I 
was at Nicolayevsk I saw flour just landed from Cronstadt. 
The settlers had generally reached the self-sustaining point, 
but they did not produce enough to feed the military and naval 
force. Until they do this the Amoor will be unprofitable. 

On the upper Amoor flour was formerly brought from the 
Trans-Baikal province to supply the settlements down to Ha- 
barofka. In 1866 there was a short crop in that province 
and a good one on the upper Amoor. A large quantity of 
wheat and rye, — I was told fifty thousand bushels, — was 
taken to the Trans-Baikal and sold there. On the whole the 
Amoor country is very good for agriculture, and will sustain 
itself in time. 

The import trade is chiefly in American and German hands, 
and comprises miscellaneous goods, of which they told me at 
least fifty per cent, were wines and intoxicating liquors ! 
The Russian emperor should make intemperance a penal of- 
fence and issue an edict against it. 

A Boston house was the first foreign one opened here, and 
then came a German one. Others followed, principally from 
America, the Sandwich Islands, Hamburg, and Bremen. 
Most of the Americans have retired from the field, two were 
closing when I was at the Amoor, and Mr. Boardman's was 
the only house in full operation. There were three German 
establishments, and another of a German- American character. 

All the cereals can be grown on the Amoor, and the yield 
is said to be very good. When its production is developed, 
wheat can be exported to China and the Sandwich Islands at 
a good profit. Until 1864 the government prohibited the ex- 
port of timber, although it had inexhaustible quantities grow- 
ing on the Amoor and its tributaries. I saw at Nicolayevsk 
and elsewhere oak and ash of excellent quality. The former 
was not as tough as New England oak, but the ash could 
hardly be excelled anywhere, and I was surprised to learn 
that no one had attempted its export to California, where 



120 



PISCATORIAL SWINE. 



good timber for wagons and similar work is altogether want- 
ing. Pine trees are large, straight, tough, and good-fibred. 
They ought to compete in Chinese ports with pine lumber 
from elsewhere. 

There is a peculiar kind of oak, the Maackia, suitable for 
cabinet work. Some exports of wool, hides, and tallow have 

been made, but none of 
importance. One cargo 
of ice has been sent to 
China, but it melted on the 
way from improper pack- 
ing. A Hong Kong mer- 
chant once ordered a cargo 
of hams from the Amoor, 
and when he received it 
and opened the barrels he 
found they contained noth- 
ing but bones. As the 
bone market was low at 
that time he did not repeat 
his order. 

Flax and hemp will grow 
here, and might become 
profitable exports. There 
is excellent grazing land 
and no lack of pasturage, 
but at present bears make fearful havoc among the cattle and 
sheep. In some localities tigers are numerous, particularly 
among the Buryea Mountains, where the Cossacks make a 
profession of hunting them. The tiger is not likely to be- 
come an article of commerce, but on the contrary is calcu- 
lated to retard civilization. 

With increased agriculture, pork can be raised and cured, 
and the Russians might find it to their advantage to introduce 
Indian corn, now almost unknown on the Amoor. At present 
hogs on the lower Amoor subsist largely on fish, and the pork 
has a very unpleasant flavor. The steward of the Variag 




NOTHING BUT BONES. 



STORIES OP RUSSIAN PECULATION. 121 

told me that in 1865, when at De Castries, he had two small 
pigs from Japan. A vessel just from the Amoor had a large 
hog which had been purchased at Nicolayevsk. 

The captain of the ship offered his hog for the two pigs, on 
the plea that he wished to keep them during his voyage. As 
the hog was three times the weight of the pigs the steward 
gladly accepted the proposal, and wondered how a man who 
made so absurd a trade could be captain of a ship. On kill- 
ing his prize he found the pork so fishy in flavor that nobody 
could eat it. The whole hog went literally to the dogs. 

Nicolayevsk is a free port of entry, and there are no duties 
upon merchandise anywhere in Siberia east of Lake Baikal. 
Since the opening of commerce, in 1865, the number of ships 
arriving annually varies from six or eight to nearly forty. 
In 1866 there were twenty-three vessels on government, and 
fifteen on private account. The government vessels brought 
flour, salt, lead, iron, machinery, telegraph material, army 
and navy equipments, and a thousand and one articles in- 
cluded under the head of ' government stores.' The private 
ones, (three of them American,) brought miscellaneous car- 
goes for the mercantile community. There were no wrecks 
in that year, or at any rate, none up to the time of my de- 
parture. 

At the Amoor I first began to hear those stories of pecula- 
tion that greet every traveler in Russia. According to my 
informants there were many deficiencies in official depart- 
ments, and very often losses were- ascribed to 'leakage,' 
' breakage,' and damage of different kinds. " Did you ever 
hear," said a gentleman to me, " of rats devouring window- 
glass, or of anchors and boiler irpn blowing away in the 
wind ? " However startling such phenomena, he declared they 
had been known at Nicolayevsk and elsewhere in the empire. 
I think if all the truth were revealed we might learn of equally 
strange occurrences in America during the late war. 

The Russians have explored very thoroughly the coast of 
Manjouria in search of good harbors. Below De Castries the 
first of importance is Barracouta Bay, in Latitude 49°. The 



122 MODE OP HAENESSING HOESES. 

government made a settlement there in 1853, but subsequently 
abandoned it for Olga Bay, six degrees further south. Vla- 
divostok, or Dominion of the East, was occupied in 1857, and 
a naval station commenced. A few years later, Posyet was 
founded near the head of the Corean peninsula, and is now 
growing rapidly. It has one of the finest harbors on the 
Japan Sea, completely sheltered, easily defended, and afford- 
ing superior facilities for repairing ships of war or commerce. 
It is free from ice the entire year, and has a little cove or bay 
that could be converted into a dry dock at small expense. 

In 1865 Posyet was visited by ten merchant vessels ; it ex- 
ported fifteen thousand poods of beche de mer, the little fish 
formerly the monopoly of the Feejees, and of which John 
Chinaman is very fond. It exported ten thousand poods of 
bean cake, and eleven times that quantity of a peculiar sea- 
grass eaten by the Celestials. Ginseng root was also an ar- 
ticle of commerce between Posyet and Shanghae. Russia 
appears in earnest about the development of the Manjourian 
coast, and is making many efforts for that object. The tele- 
graph is completed from Nicolayevsk to the new, seaport, and 
a post route has been established along the Ousuree. 

From San Francisco to the mouth of the Amoor I did not 
see a wheeled vehicle, with the exception of a hand cart and 
a dog wagon. At Nicolayevsk there were horses, carts, and 
carriages, and I had my first experience of a horse harnessed 
with the Russian yoke. The theory of the yoke is, that it 
keeps the shafts away from the animal's sides, and enables 
him to exert more strength than when closely hedged. I 
cannot give a positive opinion on this point, but believe the 
Russians are correct. The yoke standing high above ' the 
horse's head and touching him nowhere, has a curious ap- 
pearance when first seen. I never could get over the idea 
while looking at a dray in motion, that the horse was en- 
deavoring to walk through an arched gateway and taking it 
along with him. 

The shafts were wide apart and attached by straps to the 
horse's collar. All the tension came through the shafts, and 



RIDE IN A PRIVATE CARRIAGE. 



123 



these "were strengthened by ropes that extended to the ends 
of the forward axle. Harnesses had a shabby, ' fixed up ' ap- 
pearance, with a good deal of rope in their composition. 
Why they did not go to pieces or crumble to nothing, like the 
deacon's One Horse Shay, was a mystery. 

Before leaving Nicolayevsk I enjoyed a ride in one of its 
private carriages. The vehicle was open, its floor quite low, 
and the wheels small. We had two horses, one between the 
shafts and wearing the inevitable yoke. The other was out- 
side, and attached to an iron single-tree over the forward 
wheel. Three horses can be driven abreast on this kind of 
carriage. 

The shaft horse trotted, while the other galloped, holding 
his head very low and turned outward. This is due to a 
check rein, which keeps him in a position hardly natural. 
The orthodox mode in Russia is to have the shaft horse trot- 
ting while the other runs as described ; the difference in the 
motion gives an attractive and dashy appearance to the turn- 
out. Existence would be incomplete to a Russian without an 
equipage, and if he cannot own one he keeps it on hire. The 
gayety of Russian cities in winter and summer is largely due 
to the number of private vehicles in constant motion through 
the streets. 




CHAPTER XI. 

I ARRANGED to ascend the Amoor on the steamer Ingo- 
dah, which was appointed to start on the eighteenth of 
September. My friend Anossoff remained at Nicolayevsk 
during the winter, instead of proceeding to Irkutsk as I had 
fondly hoped. I found a compagnon du voyage in Captain 
Borasdine, of General Korsackoff's staff. In a drenching 
rain on the afternoon of the seventeenth, we carried our bag- 
gage to the Ingodah, which lay half a mile from shore. "We 
reached the steamer after about twenty minutes pulling in a 
whale-boat and shipping a barrel of water through the care- 
lessness of an oarsman 

At Nicolayevsk the Amoor is about a mile and a half wide, 
with a depth of twenty to thirty-five feet in the channel. I 
asked a resident what he thought the average rapidity of the 
current in front of the town. 

" When you look at it or float with it," said he, " I think 
it is about three and a half miles. If you go against it you 
find it not an inch less than five miles." 

The rowers had no light task to stem the rapid stream, and 
I think it was about like the Mississippi at Memphis. 

The boat was to leave early in the morning. I took a fare- 
well dinner with Mr. Chase, and at ten o'clock received a 
note from Borasdine announcing his readiness to go to the 
steamer. Anossoff, Chase, and half a dozen others assem- 
bled to see us off, and after waking the echoes and watchmen 
on the pier, we secured a skiff and reached the Ingodah. 
The rain was over, and stars were peeping through occasional 
loop-holes in the clouds. 

(124) 



AN AMOOKOUS FAREWELL. 



125 



' Seeing off ' consumed much time and more champagne. 
As we left the house I observed Chase and Anossoff each put- 
ting a bottle in his pocket, and remarking the excellent 
character of their ballast. From the quantity that revealed 
itself afterward the two bottles must have multiplied, or other 
persons in the party were equally provided. To send off a 
friend in Russia 
requires an a- 
mount of health- 
drinking rarely 
witnessed in New 
York or Boston. 
If the journey is 
by land the way- 
farer is escorted a 
short distance on 
his route, some- 
times to the edge 
of the town, and 
sometimes to the 

first station. Adieus are uttered over champagne, tea, lunch 
— and champagne. It was nearly daybreak when our friends 
gave us the last hand-shake and went over the side. Watch- 
ing till their boat disappeared in the gloom, I sought the 
cabin, and found the table covered with a beggarly array of 
empty bottles and a confused mass of fragmentary edibles. 
I retired to sleep, while the cabin boy cleared away the wreck. 

The sun rose before our captain. When I followed their 
example we were still at anchor and our boilers cold as a re- 
fusal to a beggar. Late in the morning the captain appeared ; 
about nine o'clock fire was kindled in the furnace, and a lit- 
tle past ten we were under way. As our anchor rose and the 
wheel began to move, most of the deck passengers turned in 
the direction of the church and devoutly made the sign of 
the cross. As we slowly stemmed the current the houses of 
Nicolayevsk and the shipping in its front, the smoking foun- 




SEEING OFF. 



126 A SIBERIAN STEAMBOAT. 

dries, and the pine-covered hills, faded from view, and with 
my face to the westward I was fairly afloat on the Amoor. 

The Ingodah was a plain, unvarnished boat, a hundred and 
ten feet long, and about fifteen feet beam. Her hull was of 
boiler iron, her bottom flat, and her prow sharp and perpen- 
dicular. Her iron, wood work, and engines were brought in 
a sailing ship to the Amoor and there put together. She had 
two cabins forward and one aft, all below deck. There was 
a small hold for storing baggage and freight, but the most of 
the latter was piled on deck. The pilot house was over the 
forward cabin, and contained a large wheel, two men, and a 
chart of the river. The rudder was about the size of a barn 
door, and required the strength of two men to control it. 
Had she ever refused to obey her helm she would have shown 
an example of remarkable obstinacy. 

Over the after cabin there was a cook-house, where dwelt 
a shabby and unwholesome cuisinier. Between the wheels 
was a bridge, occupied by the captain when starting or stop- 
ping the boat ; the engines, of thirty horse power, were below 
deck, under this bridge. The cabins, without state rooms, 
occupied the whole width of the boat. Wide seats with cush- 
ions extended around the cabins, and served as beds at night. 
Each passenger carried his own bedding and was his own 
chambermaid. The furniture consisted of a fixed table, two 
feet by ten, a dozen stools, a picture of a saint, a mirror, and 
a boy, the latter article not always at hand. 

The cabins were unclean, and reminded me of the general 
condition of transports during our late war. Can any phi- 
losopher explain why boats in the service of government are 
nearly always dirty ? 

The personnel of the boat consisted of a captain, mate, 
engineer, two pilots, and eight or ten men. The captain and 
mate were in uniform when we left port, but within two hours 
they appeared in ordinary suits of grey. The crew were 
deck hands, roustabouts, or firemen, by turns, and when we 
took wood most of the male deck passengers were required 
to assist. 



STEAM NAVIGATION ON THE A MOOR. 127 

On American steamboats the after cabin is the aristocratic 
one ; on the Amoor the case is reversed. The steerage pas- 
sengers lived, moved, and had their being and baggage aft 
the engine, while their betters were forward. This arrange- 
ment gave the steerage the benefit of all cinders and smoke, 
unless the wind was abeam or astern. 

Steam navigation on the Amoor dates from 1854. In that 
year two wooden boats, the Shilka and the Argoon, were con- 
structed on the Shilka river, preparatory to the grand expe- 
dition of General Mouravieff. Their timber was cift in the 
forests of the Shilka, and their engines were constructed at 
Petrovsky-Zavod. The Argoon was the first to descend, 
leaving Shilikinsk on the 27th of May, 1854, and bringing 
the Governor General and his staff. It was accompanied by 
fifty barges and a great many rafts loaded with military forces 
to occupy the Amoor, and with provisions for the Pacific fleet. 
The Shilka descended a few months later. She was running 
in 1866, but the Argoon, the pioneer, existed less than a de- 
cade. In 1866 there were twenty-two steamers on the Amoor, 
all but four belonging to the government. 

The government boats are engaged in transporting freight, 
supplies, soldiers, and military stores generally, and carrying 
the mail. They carry passengers and private freight at fixed 
rates, but do not give insurance against fire or accidents of 
navigation. Passengers contract with the captain or steward 
for subsistence while on board. Deck passengers generally 
support themselves, but can buy provisions on the boat if they 
wish. The steward may keep wines and other beverages for 
sale by the bottle, but he cannot maintain a bar. He has 
various little speculations of his own and does not feed his 
customers liberally. On the Ingodah the steward purchased 
eggs at every village, and expected to sell them at a large 
profit in Nicolayevsk. When we left him he had at least ten 
bushels on hand, but he never furnished eggs to us unless we 
paid extra for them. 

, One cabin was assigned to Borasdine and myself, save at 
meal times, when two other passengers were present. One 



128 MISHAPS TO EXPRESS PARCELS. 

end of it was filled with the mail, of which there were eight 
bags, each as large as a Saratoga trunk and as difficult to 
handle. The Russian government performs an 'express' 
service and transports freight by mail ; it receives parcels in 
any part of the empire and agrees to deliver them in any 
other part desired. From Nicolayevsk to St. Petersburg the 
charges are twenty-five copecks (cents) a pound, the distance 
being seven thousand miles. It gives receipts for the articles, 
and will insure them at a charge of two per cent, on their 
value. 

Goods of any kind can be sent by post through Russia just 
as by express in America. Captain Lund sent a package 
containing fifty sable skins to his brother in Cronstadt, and 
another with a silk dress pattern to a lady in St. Petersburg. 
In the mail on the Ingodah there were twelve hundred pounds 
of sable fur sent by Mr. Chase to his agent in St. Petersburg. 
Money to any amount can be remitted, and its delivery in- 
sured. I have known twenty thousand roubles sent on a sin- 
gle order. 

Parcels for transportation by post must be carefully and 
securely packed. Furs, silks, clothing, and all things of that 
class are enveloped in repeated layers of oil cloth and canvas 
to exclude water and guard against abrasion. Light articles, 
like bonnets, must be packed with abundance of paper filling 
them to their proper shape, and very securely boxed. A 
Siberian lady once told me that a friend in St. Petersburg 
sent her a lot of bonnets, laces, and other finery purchased 
at great expense. She waited a long time with feminine 
anxiety, and was delighted when told her box was at the post 
office. What was her disappointment to find the articles had 
been packed in a light case which was completely smashed. 
She never made use of any part of its contents. 

In crossing Siberian rivers the mail is sometimes wet, and 
it is a good precaution to make packages waterproof. A 
package of letters for New York from Nicolayevsk I envel- 
oped in canvas, by advice of Russian friends, and it went 
through unharmed. 




SCENES ON THE AMOOR. 



THE DAY OP DEPARTURE. 129 

The post wagons are changed at every station, and the 
mail while being transferred is not handled with care. Frail 
articles must be boxed so that no tossing will injure them. 
My lady friend told me of a bride who ordered her trousseau 
from St. Petersburg and prepared for a magnificent wedding. 
The precious property arrived forty-eight hours before the 
time fixed for the ceremony. Moving accidents by flood and 
field had occurred. The bridal paraphernalia was soaked, 
crushed, and reduced to a mass that no one could resolve 
into its original elements. The wedding was postponed and 
a new supply of goods ordered. 

The mail is always in charge of a postillion, who is gen- 
erally a Cossack, and his duty is much like that of a mail 
agent in other countries. He delivers and receives the sacks 
of matter at the post offices, and guards them on the road. 
During our voyage on the Ingodah there was no supervision 
over the mail bags after they were deposited in our cabin. I 
passed many hours in their companionship, and if Borasdine 
and I had chosen to rifle them we could have done so at our 
leisure. Possibly an escape from the penalties of the law 
would have been less easy. 

Our cook was an elderly personage, with thin hair, a yellow 
beard, and a much neglected toilet. On the first morning I 
saw him at his ablutions, and was not altogether pleased with 
his manner. He took a half-tumbler of water in his mouth 
and then squirted the fluid over his hands, rubbing them 
meanwhile with invisible soap. He was quite skillful, but I 
could never relish his dinners if I had seen him any time 
within six hours. His general appearance was that of having 
slept in a gutter without being shaken afterwards. 

The day of our departure from Nicolayevsk was like the 
best of our Indian summer. There was but little wind, the 
faintest breath coming now and then from the hills on the 
southern bank. The air was of a genial warmth, the sky 
free from clouds and only faintly dimmed with the haze 
around the horizon. The forest was in the mellow tints of 
autumn, and the wide expanse of foliferous trees, dotted at 
9 



130 NATIVE BOATS AND HOUSES. 

frequent intervals with the evergreen pine, rivalled the Oc- 
tober hues of our New England landscape. Hills and low 
mountains rose on both hanks of the river aild made a beau- 
tiful picture. The hills, covered with forest from base to 
summit, sloped gently to the water's edge or retreated here 
and there behind bits of green meadow. In the distance was 
a background of blue mountains glowing in sunshine or dark 
in shadow, and varying in outline as we moved slowly along. 
The river was ruffled only by the ripples of the current or 
the motion of our boat through the water. Just a year earlier 
I descended the Saint Lawrence from Lake Ontario to Quebec. 
I saw nothing on the gr^eat Canadian river that equaled the 
scenery of my first day's voyage on the Amoor. 

Soon after leaving Nicolayevsk we met several loads of hay 
floating with the current to a market at the town. On the 
meadows along the river the grass is luxuriant, and hay re- 
quires only the labor of cutting and curing. During the day 
we passed several points where haymaking was in progress. 
Cutting was performed with an instrument resembling the 
short scythe used in America for cutting bushes. After it 
was dried, the hay was brought to the river bank on dray-like 
carts. An American hay wagon would have accomplished 
twice as much with equal labor. 

The hay is like New England hay from natural meadows, 
and is delivered at Nicolayevsk for six or eight dollars a ton. 
Cattle and horses thrive upon it, if I may judge by the con- 
dition of the stock I saw. For its transportation two flat- 
bottomed boats are employed, and held about twelve feet 
apart by timbers. A floor on these timbers and over the 
boats serves to keep the hay dry. Men are stationed at both 
ends of the boats, and when once in the stream there is little 
to do beside floating with the current. A mile distant one 
of these barges appears like a haystack which an accident 
has set adrift. 

We saw many Gilyak boats descending the river with the 
current or struggling to ascend it. The Gilyaks form the 
native population in this region and occupy thirty-nine vil- 



A GIL YAK VILLAGE, 



131 



lages with about two thousand inhabitants. The villages are 
on both banks from the mouth of the river to Mariensk, and 
out of the reach of all inundations. Distance lends enchant- 
ment to the view of their houses, which will not bear close 
inspection. 

Some of the houses might contain a half dozen families of 
ordinary size, and were well adapted to the climate. While 
we took wood at a Gilyak village I embraced the opportunity 




A GILYAK VILLAGE. 



to visit the aboriginals. The village contained a dozen dwell- 
ings and several fish-houses. The buildings were of logs or 
poles, split in halves or used whole, and were roofed with 
poles covered with a thatch of long grass to exclude rain and 
cold. Some of the dwelling houses had the solid earth for 
floors, while others had floorings of hewn planks. 

The store houses were elevated on posts like those of an 
American ' corn barn,' and were wider and lower than the 
dwellings. Each storehouse had a platform in front where 
canoes, fishing nets, and other portable property were stowed. 



132 A VARIETY OF SMELLS. 

These buildings were the receptacles of dried fish for the 
winter use of dogs and their owners. The elevation of the 
floor serves to protect the contents from dogs and wild ani- 
mals. I was told that no locks were used and that theft was 
a crime unknown. 

The dwellings were generally divided into two apartments ; 
one a sort of ante room and receptacle of house-keeping 
goods, and the other the place of residence. Pots, kettles, 
knives, and wooden pans were the principal articles of house- 
hold use I discovered. At the storehouses there were sev- 
eral fish-baskets of birch or willow twigs. A Gilyak gentle- 
man does not permit fire carried into or out of his house, not 
even in a pipe. This is not owing to his fear of conflagra- 
tions, but to a superstition that such an occurrence may bring 
him ill luck in hunting or fishing. 

It was in the season of curing fish, and the stench that 
greeted my nostrils was by no means delightful. Visits to 
dwellings or magazines would have been much easier had I 
possessed a sponge saturated with cologne water. Fish were 
in various stages of preparation, some just hung upon poles, 
while others were nearly ready for the magazine. The man- 
ner of preparation is much the same as in Kamchatka, save 
that the largest fish are skinned before being cut into strips. 
The poorest qualities go to the dogs, and the best are reserved 
for bipeds. 

Though the natives do the most of the fishing on the 
Amoor, they do not have a monopoly of it, as some of the 
Russians indulge in the sport. One old fellow that I saw 
had a boat so full of salmon that there was no room for 
more. Now and then a fish went overboard, causing an ex- 
pression on the boatman's face as if he were suffering from a 
dose of astonishment and toothache drops in equal propor- 
tions. 

There were dogs everywhere, some lying around loose, and 
others tied to posts under the storehouses. Some walked 
about and manifested an unpleasant desire to taste the calves 
of my legs. All barked, growled, and whined in a chorus 



RUNNING A DOG GAUNTLET. 



133 



like a Pawnee concert. There were big dogs and little dogs, 
white, black, grey, brown, and yellow dogs, and not one 
friendly. They did not appear courageous, but I was not al- 
together certain of their dispositions. Their owners sought 
to quiet them, but they refused comfort. 

These dogs had some peculiarities of those in Kamchatka, 
but their blood was evidently much debased ; they appeared 
to be a mixture of Kamchadale, greyhound, bull dog, and 
cur, the 
latter pre- 
dominat- 
ing. They 
are used 
for hunt- 
ing at all 
seasons, 
and for 
towing 
boats in 
summer 
and drag- 
ging sledg- 
es in winter. I was told that since the Russian settlement 
of the Amoor the Gilyak dogs have degenerated, in conse- 
quence of too much familiarity with Muscovite canines. Ni- 
colayevsk appeared quite cosmopolitan in the matter of dogs, 
and it was impossible to say what breed was most numerous. 
One day I saw nineteen in a single group and no two alike. 

Near the entrance of the village an old man was repairing 
his nets, which were stretched along a fence. He did not 
regard us as we scrutinized his jacket of blue cotton, and he 
made no response to a question which Borasdine asked. 
Further along were two women putting fish upon poles for 
drying, and a third was engaged in skinning a large salmon. 
The women did not look up from their work, and were not 
inclined to amiability. They had Mongol features, complex- 
ion, eyes, and hair, the latter thick and black. Some of the 




ABOUT FULL. 



134 



A RAPID DESCENT, 



men wear it plaited into queues, and others let it grow pretty 
much at will. Each woman I saw had it braided in two 
queues, which hung over her shoulders. In their ears they 
wore long pendants, and their dresses were generally arranged 
with taste. 

When recalled by the steam whistle we left the village and 
took a short route down a steep bank to the boat. In de- 
scending, my feet passed from under me, and I had the pleas- 
ure of sliding about ten yards before stopping. Had it not 
been for a Cossack who happened in my way I should have 
entered the Amoor after the manner of an otter, and afforded 
much amusement to the spectators, though comparatively 
little to myself. The sliding attracted no special attention 
as it was supposed to be the American custom, and I did not 
deem it prudent to make an explanation lest the story might 
bring discredit to my nationality. 




CHAPTER XII. 

I HAD a curiosity to examine the ancient monuments at 
Tyr, opposite the mouth of the Amgoon river, but we 
passed them in the night without stopping. There are sev- 
eral traditions concerning their origin. The most authentic 
story gives them an age of six or seven hundred years. They 
are ascribed to an emperor of the Yuen dynasty who visited 
the mouth of the Amoor and commemorated his journey by 
building the ' Monastery of Eternal Repose.' The ruined 
walls of this monastery are visible, and the shape of the 
building can be easily traced. In some places the walls are 
eight or ten feet high. 

Mr. Collins visited the spot in 1857 and made sketches of 
the monuments. He describes them situated on a cliff a 
hundred and fifty feet high, from which there is a magnificent 
view east and west of the Amoor and the mountains around 
it. Toward the south there are dark forests and mountain 
ridges, some of them rough and broken. To the north is the 
mouth of the Amgoon, with a delta of numerous islands 
covered with forest, while in the northwest the valley of the 
river is visible for a long distance. Back from the cliff is a 
table-land several miles in width. 

This table-land is covered with oak, aspen, and fir trees, 
and has a rich undergrowth of grass and flowers. On a point 
of the cliff there are two monuments. A third is about four 
hundred yards away. One is a marble shaft on a granite 
pedestal ; a second is entirely granite, and the third partly 
granite and partly porphyry. The first and third bear in- 
scriptions in Chinese, Mongol, and Thibetan. One inscription 

(135) 



186 A RAPID BOAT. 

announces that the emperor Yuen founded the Monastery of 
Eternal Repose, and the others record a prayer of the Thibet- 
ans. Archimandrate Awakuni, a learned Russian, who de- 
ciphered the inscriptions, says the Thibetan prayer Om-mani- 
badme-khum is given in three languages.* 

The lowest of the monuments is five and the tallest eight 
feet in height. Near them are several flat stones with grooves 
in their surface, which lead to the supposition of their em- 
ployment for sacrificial purposes. Mr. Chase told me at Ni- 
colayevsk that he thought one of the monuments was used as 
an altar when the monastery flourished. There are no his- 
torical data regarding the ruins beyond those found on the 
stones. 

Many of the Russians and Chinese believe the site was 
selected by Genghis Khan, and the monastery commemorated 
one of his triumphs. The natives look upon the spot with 
veneration, and frequently go there to practice their mysteri- 
ous rites. 

Before leaving Nicolayevsk I asked the captain of the In- 
godah how fast his boat could steam. " Oh ! " said he, " ten 
or twelve versts an hour." Accustomed to our habit of ex- 

* Abbe Hue in his ' Recollections of a journey through Thibet and Tartary,' 
says : — 

" The Thibetans are eminently religious. There exists at Lassa a touching 
custom which we are in some sort jealous of finding among infidels. In the 
evening as soon as the light declines, the Thibetans, men, women, and children, 
cease from all business and assemble in the principal parts of the city and in the 
public squares. When the groups are formed, every one sits down on the ground 
and begins slowly to chant his prayers in an undertone, and this religious con- 
cert produces an immense and solemn harmony throughout the city. The first 
time we heard it we could not help making a sorrowful comparison between this 
pagan town, where all prayed in common, with the cities of the civilized world, 
where people would blush to make the sign of the cross in public. 

The prayer chanted in these evening meetings varies according to the season 
of the year ; that which they recite to the rosary is always the same, and is only 
composed of six syllables, om-mani-badme-khum. This formula, called briefly the 
niani, is not only heard from every mouth, but is everywhere written in the 
streets, in the interior of the houses, on every flag and streamer floating over the 
buildings, printed in the Landzee, Tartar, and Thibetan characters. The Lamas 
assert that the doctrine contained in these words is immense, and that the whole 
life of man is not sufficient to measure its depth and extent." 



A BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE SCENE, 



137 



agge rating the powers of a steamer, I expected no more than 
eight or nine versts. I was surprised to find we really made 
twelve to fifteen versts an hour. Ten thousand miles from 
St. Louis and New Orleans I at last found what I sought for 
several years — a steamboat captain who understated the speed 
of his boat ! Justice to the man requires the explanation 
that he did not own her. 

My second day on the Amoor was much like the first in 
the general features of the scenery. Hills and mountains 




ON THE AMOOR. 



on either hand ; meadows bounding one bank or the other at 
frequent intervals ; islands dotted here and there with pleas- 
ing irregularity, or stretching for many miles along the val- 
ley ; forests of different' trees, and each with its own partic- 
ular hue ; a canopy of hazy sky meeting ranges of misty 
peaks in the distance ; these formed the scene. Some one 
asks if all the tongues in the world can tell how the birds 
sing and the lilacs smell. Equally difficult is it to describe 



138 ADVENTURE OP A TRAVELER. 

with pen upon paper the beauties of that Amoor scenery. 
Each bend of the stream gave us a new picture. It was the 
unrolling of a magnificent panorama such as no man has yet 
painted. And what can I say ? There was mountain, 
meadow, forest, island, field, cliff, and valley ; there were the 
red leaves of the autumn maple, the yellow of the birch, the 
deep green of pine and hemlock, the verdure of the grass, 
the wide river winding to reach the sea, and we slowly stem- 
ming its current. Ho^ powerless are words to describe a 
scene like this ! 

The passengers of our boat were of less varied character 
than those on a Mississippi steamer. There were two Rus- 
sian merchants, who joined us at meal times in the cabin but 
slept in the after part of the boat. One was owner of a gold 
mine two hundred miles north of Nicolayevsk, and a general 
dealer in everything along the Amoor. He had wandered 
over Mongolia and Northern China in the interest of com- 
merce, and I greatly regretted my inability to talk with him 
and learn of the regions he had visited. He was among the 
first to penetrate the Celestial Empire under the late com- 
mercial treaty, and traveled so far that he was twice arrested 
by local authorities. He knew every fair from Leipsic to 
Peking, and had been an industrious commercial traveler 
through all Northern Asia. 

Once, below Sansin, on the Songaree river, he was attacked 
by thieves where he had halted for the night. With a single 
exception his crew was composed of Chinese, and these ran 
away at the first alarm. With his only Russian companion 
he attempted to defend his property, but the odds were too 
great, especially as his gun could not be found. He was 
made prisoner and compelled to witness the plundering of 
his cargo. Every thing valuable being taken, the thieves 
left him. 

In the morning he proceeded down the stream. Not car- 
ing to engage another crew, he floated with the current and 
shared with his Russian servant the labor of steering. The 
next night he was robbed again, and the robbers, angry at 



WOODING UP ON THE A MOOR. 



139 



finding so little to steal, did not leave him his boat. After 
much difficulty he reached a native village and procured an 
old skiff. With this he finished his journey unmolested. 

There were fifteen or twenty deck passengers, a fair pro- 
portion being women and children. Among the latter was a 
black eyed girl of fifteen, in a calico dress and wearing a 
shawl pinned around a pretty face. On Sunday morning she 
appeared in neat apparel and was evidently desirous of being 
seen. There were two old men dressed in coarse cloth of a 
'butternut' hue, that reminded 
me of Arkansas and Tennessee. 
The morning we started one of 
them was seated on the deck 
counting a pile of copper coin 
with great care. Two, three, 
four times he told it off, piece 
by piece, and then folded it 
carefully in the corner of his 
kerchief. In all he had less 
than a rouble, but he preserved 
it as if it were a million. 

The baggage of the deck pas- 
sengers consisted of boxes and 
household furniture in general, 
not omitting the ever-present 

samovar. This baggage was piled on the deck and was the 
reclining place of its owners by day. In the night they had 
the privilege of the after cabin, where they slept on the seats 
and floor. 

' Wooding up' was not performed with American alacrity. 
To bring the steamer to land she was anchored thirty feet 
from shore, and two men in a skiff carried a line to the bank 
and made it fast. With this line and the anchor the boat 
was warped within ten feet of the shore, another line keeping 
the stern in position. An ordinary plank a foot wide made 
the connection with the solid earth. These boats have no 
guards and cannot overhang the land like our Western craft. 




CASH ACCOUNT. 



140 



EUSSIAN MEASURE OF WOOD, 



Wood was generally piled fifty, a hundred, or five hundred 
feet from the landing place, wherever most convenient to the 
owner. No one seems to think of placing it near the water's 
edge as with us ; they told me that this had been done for- 
merly, and the freshets had carried the wood away. The peas- 
ants, warned by their loss, are determined to keep on the 
safe side. 

When all was ready the deck hands went very leisurely to 
work. Each carried a piece of rope which he looped around 

a few sticks of 
wood as a boy se- 
cures his bundle 
of school books. 
The rope was then 
slung upon the 
shoulder, the wood 
hanging over the 
back of the carrier 
and occasionally 
coming loose from 
its fastenings. No 
man showed any 
sign of hurrying, 
but all acted as if 
there were nothing 
in the world as 
cheap as time. 
One day I watched 
the wooding ope- 
ration from beginning to end. It took an hour and a half 
and twelve men to bring about four cords of wood on board. 
There was but one man displaying any activity, and he was 
falling from the plank into the river. 

The Russian measure of wood is the sajene (fathom,) and 
a sajene of wood is a pile a fathom long, wide, and high. 
The Russian marine fathom measures six feet like our own, 
but the land fathom is seven feet. It is by the land fathom 




WOODING UP. 



A RUSSIAN VILLAGE. 141 

that everything on solid earth is measured. A stick seven 
feet long is somewhat inconvenient, and therefore they cut 
wood half a fathom in length. 

We landed our first freight at Nova Mihalofski, a Russian 
village on the southern bank of the river. The village was 
small and the houses were far from palatial. The inhabitants 
live by agriculture in summer, sending their produce to Ni- 
colayevsk, and by supplying horses for the postal service in 
winter. I observed here and at other villages an example of 
Russian economy. Not able to purchase whole panes of win- 
dow glass the peasants use fragments of glass of any shape 
they can get. These are set in pieces of birch bark cut to 
the proper form and the edges held by wax or putty. The 
bark is then fastened to the window sash much as a piece of 
mosquito netting is fixed in a frame. 

Near Springfield, Missouri, I once passed a night in a 
farmer's house. The dwelling had no windows, and when we 
breakfasted we were obliged to keep the door open to give us 
light, though the thermometer was at zero, with a strong wind 
blowing. " I have lived in this house seventeen years," said 
the owner ; " have a good farm and own four niggers." But 
he could not afford the expense of a window, even of the 
Siberian kind ! 

Ten or fifteen miles above this village we reached Mihalof- 
ski, containing a hundred houses and three or four hundred 
inhabitants. From the river this town appeared quite pretty 
and thriving ; the houses were substantially built, and many 
had flower gardens in front and neat fences around them. 
Between the town and the river there were market gardens 
in flourishing condition, bearing most of the vegetables in 
common use through the north. The town is along a ridge 
of easy ascent, and most of the dwellings are thirty or forty 
feet above the river. Its fields and gardens extend back from 
the river wherever the land is fertile and easiest cleared of 
the forest. On the opposite side of the river there are mead- 
ows where the peasants engage in hay cutting. The general 
appearance of the place was like that of an ordinary village 



142 WORKING THE TELEGRAPH. 

on the lower St. Lawrence, though there were many points 
of difference. 

In several rye fields the grain had been cut and stacked. 
Near our landing was a mill, where a man, a boy, and a horse 
were manufacturing meal at the rate of seven poods or 280 
pounds a day. The whole machinery was on the most prim- 
itive scale. 

Entering the house of the mill-owner I found the principal 
apartment quite neat and well arranged, its walls being white- 
washed and decorated with cheap lithographs and wood-cuts. 
Among the latter were several from the Illustrated London 
News and IS Illustration Universelle. The sleeping room 
was fitted with bunks like those on steamboats, though some- 
what wider. There was very little clothing on the beds, but 
several sheepskin coats and coverlids were hanging on a fence 
in front of the house. 

Borasdine had business at the telegraph station, whither I 
accompanied him. The operator furnished a blank for the 
despatch, and when it was written and paid for he gave a re- 
ceipt. The receipt stated the hour and minute when the 
despatch was taken, the name of the sender, the place where 
sent, the number of words, and the amount paid. This form 
is invariably adhered to in the Siberian telegraph service. 

The telegraph on the lower Amoor was built under the 
supervision of Colonel Romanoff and was not completed at 
the time of my visit. It commenced at Nicolayevsk and fol- 
lowed the south bank of the Amoor to Habarofka at the 
mouth of the Ousuree. At Mariensk there was a branch to 
De Castries, and from Habarofka the line extended along the 
Ousuree and over the mountains to Posyet and Vladivostok. 
From Habarofka it was to follow the north bank of the Amoor 
to the Shilka, to join the line from Irkutsk and St. Peters- 
burg. Arrangements have been made recently to lay a cable 
from Posyet to Hakodadi in Japan, and thence to Shanghae 
and other parts of China. When the cable proposed by Major 
Collins is laid across the Pacific Ocean, and the break in the 



A SIBERIAN SCHOOL ROOM. 143 

Amoor line is closed up, the telegraph circuit around the 
globe will be complete. 

The telegraph is operated on the Morse system with instru- 
ments of Prussian manufacture. Compared to our American 
instruments the Prussian ones are quite clumsy, though they 
did not appear so in the hands of the operators. The signal 
key was at least four times as large as ours, and could endure 
any amount of rough handling. The other machinery was 
on a corresponding scale. 

A merchant who knew Mr. Borasdine invited us to his house, 
where he brought a lunch of bread, cheese, butter, and milk 
for our entertainment. Salted cucumbers were added, and 
the repast ended with tea. In the principal room there was 
a Connecticut clock in one corner, and the windows were 
filled with flowers, among which were the morning glory, 
aster, and verbena. Several engravings adorned the walls, 
most of them printed at Berlin. We purchased a loaf of 
sugar, and were shown a bear-skin seven feet long without 
ears and tail. The original and first legitimate owner of the 
skin was killed within a mile of town. 

In addition to his commerce and farming, this merchant 
was superintendent of a school where several Gilyak boys 
were educated. It was then vacation, and the boys were en- 
gaged in catching their winter supply of fish. At the mer- 
chant's invitation we visited the school buildings. 

The study room was much like a backwoods schoolroom in 
America, having rude benches and desks, but with everything 
clean and well made. The copy-books exhibited fair speci- 
mens of penmanship. On a desk lay a well worn reading 
book containing a dozen of iEsop's fables translated into Rus- 
sian and profusely illustrated. It corresponded to an Ameri- 
can ' Second Reader.' 

There was a dormitory containing eight beds, and there 
was a wash-room, a dining-room, and a kitchen, the latter 
separate from the main building. Close at hand was a forge 
where the boys learned to work in iron, and a carpenter shop 
with a full set of tools and a turning lathe. The superinten- 



144 



HUNTING A WILD BEAR. 



dent showed me several articles made by the pupils, including 
wooden spoons, forks, bowls, and cups, and he gave me for a 
souvenir a seal cut in pewter, bearing the word ' Fulyhelm ' 
in Russian letters, and having a neatly turned handle. 

The school is in operation ten months of each year. The 
superintendent said the children of the Russian peasants 
could attend if they wished, but very few did so. The teacher 
was a subordinate priest of the Eastern church. The expense 
of the establishment was paid by Government, with the de- 
sign of making the boys useful in educating the Gilyaks. 

The Gilyaks of the lower Amoor are pagans, and the at- 
tempts to Christianize them have not been very successful 
thus far. Their religion consists in the worship of idols and 
animals, and their priests or shamans correspond to the 
'medicine man' of the American Indians. Among animals 
they revere the tiger, and I was told no instance was known 
of their killing one. The remains of a man killed by a tiger 
are buried without ceremony, but in the funerals of other per- 




BliAH IN PROCESSION. 



sons the Gilyaks follow very nearly the Chinese custom. The 
bear is also sacred, but his sanctity does not preserve him 
from being killed. 

In hunting this beast they endeavor to capture him alive ; 
once taken and securely bound he is placed in a cage in the 



THE MYSTEEIES OF SHAMANISM. 145 

middle of a village, and there fattened upon fish. On fete- 
days he is led, or rather dragged, in procession, and of course 
is thoroughly muzzled and bound. Finally a great day ar- 
rives on which Bruin takes a prominent part in the festival 
by being killed. There are many superstitious ceremonies 
carefully observed on such occasions. The ears, jawbones, 
and skull of the bear are hung upon trees to ward off evil 
spirits, and the flesh is eaten, as it is supposed to make all 
who partake of it both fortunate and courageous. 

I did not have the pleasure of witnessing any of these 
ursine festivals, but I saw several bear cages and looked upon 
a bear while he lunched on cold salmon. If the bear were 
more gentle in his manners he might become a household pet 
among the Gilyaks ; but at present he is not in favor, espec- 
ially where there are small children. 

Ermines were formerly domesticated for catching rats, the 
high price of cats confining their possession to the wealthy. 
Cats have a half-religious character and are treated with 
great respect. Since the advent of the Russians the supply 
is very good. Before they came the Manjour merchants used 
to bring only male cats that could not trouble themselves 
about posterity. The price was sometimes a hundred roubles 
for a single mouser, and by curtailing the supply the Man- 
jours kept the market good. 

The Gilyaks, like nearly all the natives of Northern Asia, 
are addicted to Shamanism. The shaman combines the dou- 
ble function of priest and doctor, ministering to the physical 
and spiritual being at the same time. When a man is taken 
sick he is supposed to be attacked by an evil spirit and the 
shaman is called to practice exorcism. There is a distinct 
spirit for every disease and he must be propitiated in a par- 
ticular manner. While practicing his profession the shaman 
contorts his body and dances like one insane, and howls worse 
than a dozen Kamchadale dogs. He is dressed in a fantastic 
manner and beats a tambourine during his performance. To 
accommodate himself to the different spirits he modulates his 
voice, changes the character of his dance, and alters his cos- 
10 



146 



GOOD AND EVIL SPIRITS. 



tiime. Both doctor and patient are generally decked with 
wood-shavings while the work is going on. 

Sometimes an effigy of the sick person is prepared, and the 
spirit is charmed from the man of flesh to the one of straw. 
The shaman induces him to take up lodgings in this effigy, 
and the success of his persuasion is apparent when the in- 




PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. 



valid recovers. If the patient dies the shaman declares that 
the spirit was one over which he had no control, but he does 
not hesitate to take pay for his services. 

A Russian traveler who witnessed one of these exorcisms 
said that the shaman howled so fearfully that two Chinese 
merchants who were present out of curiosity fled in very 
terror. The gentleman managed to endure it to the end, but 
did not sleep well for a week afterward. 

The Gilyaks believe in both good and evil spirits, but as 
the former do only good it is not thought necessary to pay 
them any attention. All the efforts are to induce the evil 
spirits not to act. They are supposed to have power over 
hunting, fishing, household affairs, and the health and well- 
being of animals and men. 



A VOLUNTARY SACRIFICE. 147 

The shamans possess great power over their superstitious 
subjects, and their commands are rarely refused. I heard of 
an instance wherein a native caught a fine sable and preserved 
the skin as a trophy. "Very soon a man in the village fell ill. 
The shaman after practicing his art announced that the spirit 
commanded the sable skin to be worn by the doctor himself. 
The valuable fur was given up without hesitation. A Russian 
traveler stopping one night in a Gilyak house discovered in 
the morning that his sledge was missing, and was gravely 
told that the spirit had taken it. 

In 1814 the small pox raged in one of the tribes living on 
the Kolyma river, and the deaths from it were numerous. 
The shamans practiced all their, mysteries and invoked the 
spirits, but they could not stop the disease. Finally, after 
new invocations, they declared the evil spirits could not be 
appeased without the death of Kotschen, a chief of the tribe. 
This chief was so generally loved and respected that the peo- 
ple refused to obey the shamans. But as the malady made 
new progress, Kotschen magnanimously came forward and 
was stabbed by his own son. 

In general the shamans are held in check by the belief that 
should they abuse their power they will be long and severely 
punished after death. This punishment is supposed to occur 
in a locality specially devoted to bad shamans. A good sha- 
man who has performed wonderful cures receives after death 
a magnificent tomb to his memory. 

The Russians think that with educated Gilyaks they can 
succeed in winning the natives to Christianity, especially when 
the missionaries are skilled in the useful arts of civilized life. 
Hence the school in Mihalofski, and it has so far succeeded 
well in the instruction of the boys. Russian and Gilyak 
children were working in the gardens in perfect harmony, 
and there was every indication of good feeling between na- 
tives and settlers. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ON leaving Mihalofski we took the merchant and two 
priests and dropped them fifteen miles above, at a vil- 
lage where a church was being dedicated. The people were 
in their holiday costume and evidently awaited the priests. 
The church was pointed out, nestling in the forest just back 
of the river bank. It seemed more than large enough for 
the wants of the people, and was the second structure of the 
kind in a settlement ten years old. I have been told, but I 
presume not with literal truth, that a church is the first build- 
ing erected in a Russian colony. 

At night we ran until the setting of the moon, and then 
anchored. It is the custom to anchor or tie up at night un- 
less there is a good moon or very clear starlight. An hour 
after we anchored the stars became so bright that we pro- 
ceeded and ran until daylight, reaching Mariensk at two in 
the morning. I had designed calling upon two gentlemen 
and a lady at Mariensk, but it is not the fashion in Russia to 
make visits between midnight and daybreak. Borasdine had 
the claim of old acquaintance and waked a friend for a little 
talk. 

This town is at the entrance of Keezee lake, and nest to 
Nicolayevsk is the oldest Russian settlement on the lower 
Amoor. It was founded by the Russian American Company 
in the same year with Nicolayevsk, and was a trading post 
until the military occupation of the river. Difficulties of 
navigation have diminished its military importance, the prin- 
cipal rendezvous of this region being transferred to Sofyesk. 

On an island opposite Mariensk is the trace of a fortifica- 

(148) 



MANJOUR MERCHANTS AND BOATS. 



149 



tion built by Stepanoff, a Russian adventurer who descended 
the Amoor in 1654. Stepanoff passed the winter at this 
point, and fortified himself to be secure against the natives. 
He seems to have engaged in a general business of filibuster- 
ing on joint account of himself and his government. In the 
winter of his residence at this fortress he collected nearly 
five thousand sable skins as a tribute to his emperor — and 
himself. 

Morning found us at Sofyesk taking a fresh supply of wood. 
This town was founded a few years ago, and has a decided 
appearance of newness. There is a wagon road along the 
shore of Keezee lake and across the hills to De Castries Bay. 
Light draft steamboats can go within twelve miles of De 
Castries. Surveys have been made with the design of con- 
necting Keezee Lake and the Gulf of Tartary by a canal. 
A railway has also been propos- 
ed, but neither enterprise will be 
undertaken for many years. I 
passed an hour with the post 
commander, who had just re- 
ceived a pile of papers only two 
months from St. Petersburg, the 
mail having arrived the day be- 
fore. 

The steamer Telegraph lay at 
the landing when we arrived ; 
among her passengers was a 
Manjour merchant, who possess- 
ed an intelligent face, quite in 
contrast with the sleepy Gilyaks. 
He wore the Manjour dress, con- 
sisting of wide trowsers and a 
long robe reaching to his heels ; 
his shoes and hat were Chinese, and his robe was held at the 
waist with a silk cord. His hair was braided in the Chinese 
fashion, and he sported a long mustache but no beard. 

A few versts above Sofyesk we met a Manjour merchant 




MANJOUR MERCHANT. 



150 A MOTLEY GROUP. 

evidently on a trading expedition. He had a boat about 
twenty-five feet long by eight wide, with a single mast carry- 
ing a square sail. His boat was full of boxes and bales and 
had a crew of four men. A small skiff was towed astern 
and another alongside. These Manjour merchants are quite 
enterprising, and engage in traffic for small profits and large 
risks when better terms are not attainable. Before the Rus- 
sian occupation all the trade of the lower Amoor was in Man- 
jour hands. Boats annually descended from San-Sin and 
Igoon bringing supplies for native use. Sometimes a mer- 
chant would spend five or six months making his round 
journey. 

The merchants visited the villages on the route and bar- 
gained their goods for furs. There was an annual fair at the 
Gilyak village of Pul, below Mariensk, and this was made 
the center of commerce. The fair lasted ten days, and dur- 
ing that time Pul was a miniature Nijne Novgorod. Manjour 
and Chinese merchants met Japanese from the island of Sak- 
halin, Tunguse from the coast of the Ohotsk Sea, and others 
from the head waters of the Zeya and Amgoon. There were 
Gilyaks from the lower Amoor and various tribes of natives 
from the coast of Manjouria. 

A dozen languages were spoken, and traffic was conducted 
in a patois of all the dialects. Cloth, powder, lead, knives, 
and brandy were exchanged for skins and furs. A gentleman 
who attended one of these fairs told me that the scene was 
full of interest and abounded in amusing incidents. Of late 
years the navigation of the Amoor has discontinued the fair 
of Pul. The Manjour traders still descend the river, but they 
are not as numerous as of yore. 

With a good glass from the deck of the steamer I watched 
the native process of catching salmon. The fishing stations 
are generally, though not always, near the villages. The 
natives use gill nets and seines in some localities, and scoop 
nets in others. Sometimes they build a fence at right angles 
to the shore, and extend it twenty or thirty yards into the 



NATIVE MODES OF PISHING, 



151 



•itreain. This fence is fish-proof, except in a few places where 
holes are purposely left. 

The natives lie in wait with skiffs and hand-nets and catch 
the salmon as they attempt to pass these holes. I watched a 
G-ilyak taking fish in 
this way, and think 
he dipped them up at 
the rate of two a min- 
ute ; when the fish 
are running well a 
skiff can be filled in 
a short time. Some- 
times pens of wicker 
work are fixed to en- 
close the fish after 
they pass the holes in 
the fence. The sal- 
mon in this case has 
a practical illustration 
of life in general: 
easy to get into trou- 
ble but difficult to get 
out of it. 

For catching stur- 
geon they use a cir- 
cular net five feet across at the opening, and shaped like a 
shallow bag. One side of the mouth is fitted with corks and 
the other with weights of lead or iron. Two canoes in mid 
stream hold this net between them at right angles to the cur- 
rent. The sturgeon descending the river enters the trap, and 
the net proceeds of the enterprise are divided between the 
fishermen. 

It requires vision or a guide to find a fishing station, but 
the sense of smell is quite sufficient to discover where salmon 
are dressed and cured. The offal from the fish creates an 
unpleasant stench and no effort is made to clear it away. 
The natives and their dogs do not consider the scent disagree- 




GILTAK MAN. 



152 



THE VALLEY AND ITS ISLANDS, 



able and have no occasion to consult the tastes or smell of 
others. The first time I visited one of their fish-curing places 
I thought of the western city that had, after a freshet, ' forty- 
five distinct and different odors beside several wards to hear 
from.' 

Above Mariensk the Amoor valley is often ten or twenty 
miles mide, enclosing whole labyrinths of islands, some of 

great extent. These 
islands are generally 
well out of water and 
not liable to overflow. 
Very few have the 
temporary appear- 
ance of the islands of 
the lower Mississippi. 
Here and there were 
small islands of slight 
elevation and covered 
with cottonwoods, pre- 
cisely like those grow- 
ing between Memphis 
and Cairo. 

The banks of this 
part of the Amoor do 
not wash like the al» 
luvial lands along the Mississippi and Missouri, but are more 
like the shores of the Ohio. They are generally covered with 
grass or bushes down to the edge of the water. There are 
no shifting sand-bars to perplex the pilot, but the channel re- 
mains with little change from year to year. I saw very little 
drift wood and heard no mention of snags. The general fea- 
tures of the scenery were much like those below Mihalofski. 
The numerous islands and the labyrinth of channels often 
permit boats to pass each other without their captains know- 
ing it. One day we saw a faint line of smoke across an is- 
land three or four miles wide ; watching it closely I found it 




GILYAK "WOMAN. 



Wry 



PR^a r&i 



K , > ,., ; ^ 



AT" 




AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. 153 

was in motion and evidently came from a descending steam- 
boat. On another occasion we missed in these channels a 
boat our captain was desirous of hailing. Once while Gen- 
eral Monravieff was ascending the river he was passed by a 
courier who was bringing him important despatches. 

The pilot steers with a chart of the river before him, and 
relies partly upon his experience and partly upon the deline- 
ated route. Sometimes channels used at high water are not 
navigable when the river is low, and some are favorable for 
descent but not for ascent. In general the pilotage is far 
more facile than on the Mississippi, and accidents are not fre- 
quent. 

The peasants always came to the bank where we stopped, 
no matter what the hour. At one place where we took wood 
at night there was a picturesque group of twenty-five or thirty 
gathered around a fire ; men and women talking, laughing, 
smoking, and watching the crew at work. The light of the 
fire poured full upon a few figures and brought them into 
strong relief, while others were half hidden in shadow. Of 
the men some wore coats of sheepskin, others Cossack coats 
of grey cloth ; some had caps of faded cloth, and others Tar- 
tar caps of black sheepskin. Red beards, white beards, black 
beards, and smooth faces were played upon by the dancing 
flames. The women were in hoopless dresses, and held 
shawls over their heads in place of bonnets. 

A hundred versts above Sofyesk the scenery changed. The 
mountains on the south bank receded from the river and were 
more broken and destitute of trees. Wide strips of lowland 
covered with forest intervened between the mountains and 
the shore. On the north the general character of the coun- 
try remained. I observed a mountain, wooded to the top and 
sloping regularly, that had a curious formation at its summit. 
It was a perpendicular shaft resembling Bunker Hill Monu- 
ment, and rising from the highest point of the mountain ; it 
appeared of perfect symmetry, and seemed more like a work 
of art than of nature. On the same mountain, half way 
down its side, was a mass of rock with towers and buttresses 



154 SIBEEIAN BIRDS. 

that likened it to a cathedral. These formations were spec- 
ially curious, as there were no more of the kind in the vicin- 
ity. Borasdine observed the rocks soon after I discovered 
them, and at first thought they were ancient monuments. 

There were many birds along the shore. Very often we 
dispersed flocks of ducks and sent them flying over islands 
and forests to places of safety. Snipe were numerous, and 
so were several kinds of wading and swimming birds. Very 
often we saw high in air the wild geese of Siberia flying to 
the southward in those triangular squadrons that they form 
everywhere over the world. These birds winter in the south 
of China, Siam, and India, while they pass the summer north 
of the range of the Yablonoi mountains. 

The birds of the Amoor belong generally to the species 
found in the same latitudes of Europe and America, but there 
are some birds of passage that are natives of Southern Asia, 
Japan, the Philippine Islands, and even South Africa and Aus- 
tralia. Seven-tenths of the birds of the Amoor are found in 
Europe, two-tenths in Siberia, and one-tenth in regions further 
south. Some birds belong more properly to America, such 
as the Canada woodcock and the water ouzel ; and there are 
several birds common to the east and west coasts of the Pa- 
cific. The naturalists who came here at the Russian occupa- 
tion found two Australian birds on the Amoor, two from 
tropical and sub-tropical Africa, and one from Southern Asia. 

The number of stationary birds is not great, in consequence 
of the excessive cold in winter. Mr. Maack enumerates 
thirty-nine species that dwell here the entire year. They in- 
clude .eagles, hawks, jays, magpies, crows, grouse, owls, wood- 
peckers, and some others. The birds of passage generally 
arrive at the end of April or during May, and leave in Sep- 
tember or October. 

It is a curious fact that they come later to Nicolayevsk than 
to the town of Yakutsk, nine degrees further north. This is 
due to differences of climate and the configuration of the 
country. The lower Amoor is remarkable for its large quan- 
tities of snow, and at Nicolayevsk it remains on the ground 



A NATIVE BOAT. 155 

till the end of May. South of the lower Amoor are the 
Shanalin mountains, which arrest the progress of birds. On 
the upper Amoor and in Trans-Baikal very little snow falls, 
and there are no mountains of great height. 

The day after leaving Sofyesk I observed a native propel- 
ling a boat by pulling both oars together. On my expressing 
surprise my companion said : 

" We have passed the country of the Gilyaks who pull their 
oars alternately, and entered that of the Mangoons and Gol- 
dees. The manner of rowing distinguishes the Gilyaks from 
all others." 

The Mangoons, Goldees, and Gilyaks differ in much the 
same way that the tribes of American Indians are different. 
They are all of Tungusian or Mongolian stock, and have 
many traits and words in common. Their features have the 
same general characteristics and their languages are as much 
alike as those of a Cheyenne and Comanche. Each people 
has its peculiar customs, such as the style of dress, the mode 
of constructing a house, or rowing a boat. All are pagans 
and indulge in Shamanism, but each tribe has forms of its 
own. All are fishers and hunters, their principal support 
being derived from the river. 

The Goldee boat was so much like a Gilyak one that I 
could see no difference. There was no opportunity to exam- 
ine it closely, as we passed at a distance of two or three hun- 
dred feet. 

Besides their boats of wood the Goldees make canoes of 
birch bark, quite broad in the middle and coming to a point 
at both ends. In general appearance these canoes resemble 
those of the Penobscot and Canadian Indians. The native 
sits in the middle of his canoe and propels himself with a 
double-bladed oar, which he dips into the water with regular 
alternations from one side to the other. The canoes are flat 
bottomed and very easy to overturn. A canoe is designed to 
carry but one man, though two can be taken in an emergency. 
"When a native sitting in one of them spears a fish he moves 
only his arm and keeps his body motionless. 



156 A POPULOUS DISTRICT. 

At the Russian village of Gorin there was an Ispravnik 
who had charge of a district containing nineteen villages 
with about fifteen hundred inhabitants. At Gorin the river 
is two or three miles wide, and makes a graceful bend. "We 
landed near a pile of ash logs awaiting shipment to Nicola- 
yevsk. The Ispravnik was kind enough to give me the model 
of a Goldee canoe about eighteen inches long and complete 
in all particulars. It was made by one Anaka Katonovitch, 
chief of an ancient Goldee family, and authorized by the em- 
peror of China to wear the uniform of a mandarin. The 
canoe was neatly formed, and reflected favorably upon the 
skill of its designer. I boxed it carefully and sent it to Ni- 
colayevsk for shipment to America. 

The Ispravnik controlled the district between Habarof ka 
and Sofyesk on both banks of the river, his power extending 
over native and Russian alike. He said that this part of the 
Amoor valley was very fertile, the yield of wheat and rye 
being fifteen times the seed. The principal articles cultivated 
were wheat, rye, hemp, and garden vegetables, and he thought 
the grain product of 1866 in his district would be thirty 
thousand poods of wheat and the same of rye. With a pop- 
ulation of fifteen hundred in a new country, this result was 
very good. 

The Goldees do not engage in agriculture as a business. 
Now and then there was a small garden, but it was of very 
little importance. Since the Russian occupation the natives 
have changed their allegiance from China to the ' White Czar/ 
as they call the Muscovite emperor. Formerly they were 
much oppressed by the Manjour officials, who displayed great 
rapacity in collecting tribute. It was no unusual occurrence 
for a native to be tied up and whipped to compel him to bring 
out all his treasures. The Goldees call the Manjours * rats,' 
in consequence of their greediness and destructive powers. 

The Goldees are superior to the Gilyaks in numbers and 
intelligence, and the Manjours of Igoon and vicinity are in 
turn superior to the Goldees. The Chinese are more civilized 
than the Manjours, and call the latter ' dogs.' The Manjours 



HABITS OF THE GOLDEES. 157 

take revenge by applying the epithet to the Goldees, and these 
transfer it to Mangoons and Gilyaks. The Mangoons are not 
in large numbers, and live along the river between the Gil- 
yaks and Goldees. Many of the Russian officials include 
them with the latter, and the captain of the Ingodah was al- 
most unaware of their existence. 

A peculiar kind of fence employed by the Russian settlers 
on this part of the Amoor attracted my attention. Stakes 
were driven into the ground a foot apart and seven feet high. 
Willow sticks were then woven between these stakes in a sort 
of basket work. The fence was impervious to any thing 
larger than a rat, and no sensible man would attempt climb- 
ing it, unless pursued by a bull or a sheriff, as the upper ends 
of the sticks were very sharp and about as convenient to sit 
upon as a row of harrow-teeth. 

It reminded me of a fence in an American village where 1 
once lived, that an enterprising fruit-grower had put around 
his orchard, — a structure of upright pickets, and each picket 
armed with a nail in the top. One night four individuals 
bent on stealing apples, were confronted by the owner and a 
bull-dog and forced to surrender or leap the fence. Three of 
them were " treed" by the dog ; the fourth sprang over the 
fence, but left the seat of his trousers and the rear section of 
his shirt, the latter bearing in indelible ink the name of the 
wearer. The circumstantial evidence was so strong against 
him that he did not attempt an alibi, and he was unable to 
sit down for nearly a fortnight. 




CHAPTEE XIV. 

I TOOK the first opportunity to enter a Goldee house and 
study the customs of the people. A Goldee dwelling 
for permanent habitation has four walls and a roof. The 
sides and ends are of hewn boards or small poles made into 
a close fence, which is generally double and has a space six 
or eight inches wide filled with grass and leaves. Inside and 
out the dwelling is plastered with mud, and the roofs are 
thatch or bark held in place by poles and stones. Sometimes 
they are entirely of poles. The doors are of hewn plank, and 
can be fastened on the inside. 

The dwellings are from fifteen to forty feet square, accord- 
ing to the size of the family. In one I found a grandfather 
ansl his descendants ; thirty persons at least. There are usu- 
ally two windows, made of fish skin or thin paper over lat- 
tices. Some windows were closed with mats that could be 
rolled up or lowered at will. 

The fire-place has a deep pan or kettle fixed over it, and 
there is room for a pot suspended from a rafter. Around the 
room is a divan, or low bench of boards or wicker work, 
serving as a sofa by day and a bed at night. "When dogs are 
kept in the house a portion of the divan belongs to them, and 
among the Mangoons there is a table in the center specially 
reserved for feeding the dogs. 

I found the floors of clay, smooth and hard. Near the 
fire-place a little fire of charcoal is kept constantly burning 
in a shallow hole. Pipes are lighted at this fire, and small 
things can be warmed over it. Household articles were hung 
upon the rafters and cross beams, and there was generally a 

(158) 



A GENTLEMAN AT HOME. 159 

closet for table ware and other valuables. The cross-beams 
were sufficiently close to afford stowage room for considerable 
property. Fish-nets, sledges, and canoes were the most bulky 
articles I saw there. 

Part of one wall was reserved for religious purposes, and 
covered with bear-skulls and bones, horse-hair, wooden idols, 
and pieces of colored cloth. Occasionally there were badly- 
painted pictures, purchased from the Chinese at enormous 
prices. Sometimes poles shaped like small idols are fixed 
before the houses. 

A Goldee house is warmed by means of wooden pipes un- 
der the divan and passing out under ground to a chimney ten 
or fifteen feet from the building. Great economy is shown in 
using fuel and great care against conflagrations. I was not 
able to stand erect in any Goldee houses I entered. 

Like all people of the* Mongolian race, the natives pre- 
tended to have little curiosity. When we landed at their 
villages many continued their occupations and paid no atten- 
tion to strangers. Above Gorin a Goldee gentleman took me 
into his house, where a woman placed a mat on the divan and 
motioned me to a seat. The man tendered me a piece of 
dried fish, which I ate out of courtesy to my«hosts. Several 
children gathered to look at me, but retired on a gesture from 
pater familias. I am not able to say if the fact that my eyes 
were attracted to a pretty girl of seventeen had anything to 
do with the dispersal of the group. Curiosity dwells in Mon- 
gol breasts, but the Asiatics, like our Indians, consider its 
exhibition in bad taste. 

Outside this man's house there were many scaffoldings for 
drying fish. A tame eagle was fastened with a long chain to 
one of the scaffolds ; he was supposed to keep other birds 
away and was a pet of his owner. There were many dogs 
walking or lying around loose, while others were tied to the 
posts that supported the scaffolds. 

The dogs of the Goldees are very intelligent. One morn- 
ing Mr. Maack missed his pots which he had left the night 
before full of .meat. After some search they were found in 



160 



FISHING STATIONS. 



the woods near the village, overturned and empty. Several 
dogs were prowling about arid had evidently committed the 
theft. Fearing to be interrupted at their meal they carried 
the pots where they could eat at leisure. 

While steaming up the river I frequently saw temporary 
dwellings of poles and bark like our Indian wigwams. These 
were at the fishing stations upon sand bars or low islands. 
The afternoon following our departure from Gorin I counted 
about thirty huts, or yourts, on one island, and more than 
fifty boats on the river. 

For half a mile the scene was animated and interesting. 
Some boats were near the shore, their inmates hauling seines 

or paddl- 
ing up or 
down the 
stream. In 
one heavi- 
ly laden 
boat there 
was one 
man steer- 
ing with a 
paddle. 
Four men 
towed the 
craft a- 

gainst the current, and behind it was another drawn by six 
dogs. Out in the river were small skiffs and canoes in 
couples, engaged in holding nets across the direction of the 
current. The paddles were struck regularly and slowly to 
prevent drifting down the stream. 

One boat with two men rowing and another steering at- 
tempted a race with the steamer and fairly passed us, though 
we were making ten miles an hour. All these natives are 
very skillful in managing their boats. 

When we passed near a boat we were greeted with ' Men- 
dow, mendow,' the Mongol word of welcome. Sometimes we 




TEN MILES AN HOUR. 



A FASHIONABLE CALL. 161 

were hailed with the Russian salutation of ' sdrastveteh.' In 
one boat I saw a Goldee belle dressed with considerable taste 
and wearing a ring in the cartilage of her nose. How power- 
ful are the mandates of Fashion ! This damsel would scorn 
to wear her pendants after the manner of Paris and New 
York, while the ladies of Broadway and the Boulevards would 
equally reject the Goldee custom. 

The natives of this part of the Amoor have a three-pronged 
spear like a Neptune's trident, and handle it with much dex- 
terity. The spear-head is attached to a long line, and when 
a fish is struck the handle is withdrawn. The fish runs out 
the line, which is either held in the hand or attached to a 
bladder floating on the water. 

Ropes and nets are made from hemp and the common sting 
nettle, the latter being preferred. The nettle-stalks are 
soaked in water and then dried and pounded till the fibres 
separate. Ropes and cords are equal to those of civilized 
manufacture, though sometimes not quite as smooth. Thread 
for sewing and embroidery comes from China, and is pur- 
chased of Manjour traders. 

The night after we left Gorin the boat took wood at the 
village of Doloe. It was midnight when we arrived, and as 
I walked through the village nearly all the inhabitants were 
sleeping. The only perambulating resident was very drunk 
and manifested a desire to embrace me, but as I did not know 
his language and could not claim relationship I declined the 
honor. Near the river there was a large building for govern- 
ment stores and a smaller one for the men guarding it. A 
few hundred yards distant there was a Goldee village, and 
for want of something better Borasdine proposed that we 
should call on one of its inhabitants. We took a Russian 
peasant to guide and introduce us, our credentials and pass- 
ports having been left on the steamer. 

As we approached the first house we were greeted by at 

least a dozen dogs. They barked on all keys and our guide 

thought it judicious to provide himself with a stick ; but I 

must do the brutes the justice to say that they made no at- 

11 



162 COATS OF FISH SKINS. 

tempt at dentistry upon our legs. Some of them were large 
enough to consume ten pounds of beef at a sitting, and some 
too small for any but ornamental purposes. 

The door was not locked and the peasant entered without 
warning, while we stood outside among the dogs. Our guide 
aroused the chief of the establishment and made a light ; a 
strip of birch bark was used, and it took a good deal of blow- 
ing on the fire coals before a flame was produced. When we 
entered we found the proprietor standing in a short garment 
and rubbing his oblique eyes to get himself thoroughly awake. 

Near the place he had vacated, the lady of the house was 
huddled under a coverlid about as large as a postage stamp, 
and did not appear encumbered with much clothing. Three 
or four others had waked and made some attempt to cover 
themselves. At least a dozen remained asleep and lay in a 
charming condition of nudity. The Goldee houses are heated 
to a high degree, and their inmates sleep without clothing. 
The delay in admitting us was to permit the head of the 
house to dress in reception costume, which he did by putting 
on his shirt. 

After wishing this aboriginal a long and happy life, and 
thanking him for his courtesy, we departed. I bumped my 
head against the rafters both in entering and leaving, and 
found considerable difference between the temperature in the 
house and out of it. The peasant offered to guide us to visit 
more Goldees, but we returned to the boat and retired to 
sleep. 

The Russian peasants and the natives live in perfect har- 
mony and are of mutual advantage and assistance. The 
peasant furnishes the native with salt, flour, and other things, 
while the latter catches fish enough for both. Each has a 
peaceable disposition, and I was told that quarrels were of 
rare occurrence. 

The Chinese call the natives Yu-pi-ta-tze, which in English 
means ' wearers of fish-skins.' I saw many garments of fish- 
skins, most of them for summer use. The operation of pre- 
paring them is quite simple. The skins are dried and after- 



CHARMS TO CURE DISEASE. 



163 



ward pounded, the blows making them flexible and removing 
the scales. This done they are ready to be sewn into gar- 
ments. 

A coat of this material embroidered and otherwise deco- 
rated is far from ugly, and sheds water like India rubber. 
Fish-skins are used in making sails for boats and for the win- 
dows of houses. A Russian who had worn a Goldee coat 
said it was both warm and waterproof, and he suggested that 
it would be well to adopt fish-skin garments in America. 

The Goldees and Mangoons practice Shamanism in its gen- 
eral features, and have a few customs peculiar to themselves. 
At a Goldee village I saw a man wearing a wooden represen- 
tation of an arm, and learned that it is the practice to wear 
amulets to cure disease, the amulet 
being shaped like the part affected. 
A lame person carries a small leg 
of wood, an individual suffering 
from dyspepsia a little stomach, 
and so on through a variety of 
disorders. A hypochondriac who 
thought himself afflicted all over 
had covered himself with these 
wooden devices, and looked like a 
museum of anatomy on its travels. 
I thought the custom not unknown 
in America, as I had seen ladies 
in New York wearing hearts of 
coral and other substances on their 
watch-chains. Evidently the fash- 
ion comes from 1' Amour. 

The morning after leaving Doloe 
we had a rain-storm with high 
wind that blew us on a lee shore. 

The river was four or five miles wide where the gale caught 
us, and the banks on both sides were low. The islands in 
this part of the river were numerous and extensive. At one 
place there are three channels, each a mile and a half wide 




THE HYPOCHONDRIAC. 



164 A BUSY SCENE. 

and all navigable. From one bank to the other straight across 
the islands is a distance of nineteen miles. 

The wind and weather prevented our making much pro- 
gress on that day ; as the night was cloudy we tied up near 
a Russian village and economised the darkness by taking 
wood. At a peasant's house near the landing four white- 
headed children were taking their suppers of bread and soup 
under the supervision of their mother. Light was furnished 
from an apparatus like a fishing jack attached to the wall ; 
every few minutes the woman fed it with a splinter of pine 
wood. Very few of the peasants on the Amoor can afford 
the expense of candles, and as they rarely have fire-places 
they must burn pine splinters in this way. 

Along the Amoor nearly every peasant house contains hun- 
dreds, and I think thousands, of cockroaches. They are 
quiet in the day but do not fail to make themselves known at 
night. The table where these children were eating swarmed 
with them, and I can safely say there were five dozen on a 
space three feet square. They ran everywhere about the 
premises except into the fire. Walls, beds, tables, and floors 
were plentifully covered with these disagreeable insects. The 
Russians do not appear to mind them, and probably any one 
residing in that region would soon be accustomed to their 
presence. Occasionally they are found in bread and soup, 
and do not improve the flavor. 

Life on the steamboat was a trifle monotonous, but I found 
something new daily. Our steward (who is called Boofetchee 
in Russian) brought me water for washing when I rose in the 
morning, and the samovar with tea when I was dressed. 
Borasdine rose about the time I did and joined me at tea. 
Then we had breakfast of beef and bread with potatoes about 
eleven or twelve o'clock, and dinner at six. 

The intervals between meals were variously filled. I 
watched the land, talked with Borasdine, read, wrote, smoked, 
and contemplated the steward, but never imagined him a dis- 
guised angel. I looked at the steerage passengers and the 
crew, and think their faces are pretty well fixed in memory. 



LIFE ON A STEAMBOAT. — DRAW POKER. 165 

Had I only been able to converse in Russian I should have 
found much more enjoyment. As for the cook it is needless 
to say that I never penetrated the mysteries of his realm. 
Little games of cards were played daily by all save myself ; 
I used to look on occasionally but never learned the games. 

One of the Russian games at cards is called poker, and is 
not much unlike that seductive amusement so familiar to the 
United States. Whence it came I could not ascertain, but it 
was probably taken there by some enterprising American. 
Some years ago a western actor who was able to play Hamlet, 
Richelieu, Richard III., Claude Melnotte, and draw-poker, 
made his way to Australia, where he delighted the natives 
with his dramatic genius. But though he drew crowded 
houses his cash box was empty, as the treasurer stole the 
most of the receipts. He did not discharge him as there was 
little prospect of finding a better man in that country ; but 
he taught him draw-poker, borrowed five dollars to start the 
game, and then every morning won from the treasurer the 
money taken at the door on the previous night. 

As we approached the Ousuree there was a superior mag- 
nificence in the forest. The trees on the southern bank grew 
to an enormous size in comparison with those lower down the 
river. Naturalists say that within a short distance in this re- 
gion may be found all the trees peculiar to the Amoor. Some 
of them are three or four feet in diameter and very tall and 
straight. The elm and larch attain the greatest size, while 
the ash and oak are but little inferior. The cork-tree is two 
feet through, and the maackia — a species of oak with a brown, 
firm wood — grows to the diameter of a foot or more. 

In summer the foliage is so dense that the sun's rays hardly 
penetrate, and there is a thick ' chapparel' that makes loco- 
motion difficult. Just below the Ousuree the settlers had re- 
moved the under growth over a small space and left the trees 
appearing taller than ever. In a great deal of travel I have 
never seen a finer forest than on this part of the Amoor. I 
do not remember anything on the lower Mississippi that could 
surpass it. 



166 THE OUSUREE AND HABAEOPKA. 

Tigers and leopards abound in these forests, and bears are 
more numerous than agreeable. Occasionally one of these 
animals dines upon a Goldee, but the custom is not in favor 
with the natives. It is considered remarkable that the Ben- 
gal tiger, belonging properly to a region nearer the equator, 
should range so far north. On some of its excursions it 
reaches 53° North Latitude, and feeds upon reindeer and 
sables. The valley of the A moor is the only place in the 
world outside of a menagerie where all these animals are 
found together. The tropical ones go farther north and the 
Arctic ones farther south than elsewhere. 

It is the same with the vegetable kingdom. The mahogany 
and cork tree grow here, and the bark of the latter is largely 
used by the natives. On the slopes of the mountains a few 
miles away are the Siberian pine, the Ayan spruce, and here 
and there a larch tree. Cedars and fir trees are abundant 
and grow to a great size. The whole appearance of the re- 
gion is one of luxuriance and fertility. 

The mouth of the Ousuree is a mile wide, and the stream 
is said to be magnificent through its whole length. Its 
sources are in Latitude 44°, and its length is about five hun- 
dred miles. While I was at Nicolayevsk Admiral Fulyelm 
said to me : 

" I have just returned from a voyage on the Ousuree. It 
is one of the loveliest rivers I ever saw. The valley bears 
such a resemblance to a settled country with alternate parks 
and open country that I almost looked to see some grand old 
mansion at every bend of the stream." 

A little past noon we sighted the town and military post 
of Habarofka at the mouth of the Ousuree. It stands on a 
promontory overlooking both rivers, and presents a pleasing 
appearance from the Amoor. The portion first visible in- 
cluded the telegraph office and storehouses, near which a 
small steamer was at anchor. A Manjour trading boat was 
at the bank, its crew resting on shore ; a piece of canvas had 
been spread on the ground and the men were lounging upon 
it. One grave old personage, evidently the owner of the 



TRACES OF AMERICAN TRADE. 



167 



boat, waved his hand toward us in a dignified manner, but 
we could not understand his meaning. 

Coming to shore we narrowly missed running over a Gol- 
dee boat that crossed our track. Our wheel almost touched 
the stern of the craft as we passed it, but the occupants ap- 
peared no wise alarmed. Two women were rowing and a 
man steering, while a man and a boy were idle in the bow. 
A baby, strapped into a shallow cradle, lay in the bottom of 
the boat near the steersman. The young Mongol was hold- 
ing his thumb in his mouth and appeared content with his 
position. 

The town was in a condition of rawness like a western city 
in its second year ; there was one principal street and several 
smaller ones, regularly laid out. As in all the Russian set- 
tlements on the Amoor the houses were of logs and substan- 
tially built. Passing up the principal street we found a store, 
where we purchased a quantity of canned fruit, meats, and 
pickles. 

These articles were from Boston, New York, and Baltimore, 
and had American labels. The pictures of peaches, straw- 
berries, and - 
other fruits 
printed on the 
labels were a 
great conven- 
ience to the 
Eussian clerk 
who served us. 
He could not 
read English, 
but understood 
pictorial repre- 
sentations. On 
the boat we 

gave the cans to the steward, to be opened when we ordered. 
The pictures were especially adapted to this youth as he read 
on language whatever, including his own. 




NONE FOR JOE. 



168 A- DRUNKEN DETENTION. 

On one occasion a quantity of devilled turkey was put up 
in cans and sent to the Amoo-r, and the label was beautified 
with a picture of His Satanic Majesty holding a turkey on 
the end of a fork. The natives supposed that the devil was 
in the cans and refused to touch them. The supply was sent 
back to Nicolayevsk, where it was eaten by the American 
merchants. 

Accompanying Borasdine I called upon the officer in com- 
mand. We were ushered through two or three small rooms 
into the principal apartment, which contained a piano of 
French manufacture. Three or four officers and as many 
ladies enabled us to pass an hour very pleasantly till the 
steam whistle recalled us, but we did not leave until two 
hours after going on board. Two or three men had been al- 
lowed on shore and were making themselves comfortable in 
a lafka. Two others went for them, but as they did not re- 
turn within an hour the police went to search for both parties. 
When all were brought to the steamer it was difficult to say 
it the last were not firsj; — in intoxication. 

Several passengers left us at Habarof ka, among them the 
black eyed girl that attracted the eyes of one or two passen- 
gers in the cabin ; as we departed she stood on the bank and 
waved us an adieu. In the freight taken at this point there 
were fifteen chairs of local manufacture ; they were piled in 
the cabin and did not leave us much space, when we consid- 
ered the number and size of the fleas. On my first night on 
the Ingodah the fleas did not disturb me as I came after vis- 
iting hours and was not introduced. On all subsequent nights 
they were persevering and relentless ; I was bitten until por- 
tions ot my body appeared as if recovering from a Polynesian 
tattoo. They used to get inside my under clothing by some 
mysterious way and when there they walked up and down 
like sentries on duty and bit at every other step. It was im- 
possible to flee from them, and they appointed their break- 
fasts and lunches at times most inconvenient to myself. 

If I were Emperor of Russia I would issue a special edict 
expelling fleas from my dominions and ordering that the 



EXPERIENCE WITH FLEAS. 



169 



labor expended in scratching should be devoted to agriculture 
or the mechanic arts. I suggested that the engines should 
be removed from the Ingodah and a treadmill erected for the 
fleas to propel the boat. There have been exhibitions where 
fleas were trained to draw microscopic coaches and perform 
other fantastic tricks ; but whatever their ability I would 
wager that the insects on that steamboat could not be out- 
done in industry by any other fleas in the world. 

One of my standard amusements was to have a grand hunt 
for these lively insects just before going to bed, and I have 
no doubt that the exercise assisted to keep me in good health. 
I used to remove my clothing, which I turned inside out and 
shook very carefully. Then I bathed from head to foot in 
some villainous brandy that no respectable flea would or could 
endure ; after this ablution was ended, I donned my garments, 
wrapped in my blanket, and proceeded to dream that I was 
a hen with thirteen chickens, and doomed to tear up an acre 
of ground for their support. 




CHAPTER XV. 

"YT~THEN I rose in the morning after leaving Habarof ka 
V V the steward was ready with his usual pitcher of water 
and basin. In Siberia they have a novel way of performing 
ablutions. They rarely furnish a wash-bowl, but in place of 
it bring a large basin of brass or other metal. If you wish 
to wash hands or face the basin is placed where you can lean 
over it. A servant pours from a pitcher into your hands, and 
if you are skillful you catch enough water to moisten your 
face. Frequently the peasants have a water-can attached to 
the wall of the house in some out-of-the-way locality. The 
can has a valve in the bottom opened from below like a trap- 
door in a roof. By lifting a brass pin that projects from this 
valve one can fill his hands with water without the aid of a 
servant. 

While I was arranging my toilet the steward pointed out 
of the cabin window and uttered the single word " Kitie" — 
emphasizing the last syllable. I looked where he directed 
and had my first view of the Chinese empire. 

"Kitie" is the Russian name of China, and is identical 
with the Cathay of Marco Polo and other early travelers. I 
could not see any difference between Kitie on one hand and 
Russia on the other ; there were trees and bushes, grass and 
sand, just as on the opposite shore. In the region imme- 
diately above the Ousuree there are no mountains visible from 
the river, but only the low banks on either hand covered with 
trees and bushes. Here and there were open spaces appear- 
ing as if cleared for cultivation. With occasional sand bars 
and low islands, and the banks frequently broken and shelv- 

(170) 



FIRST VIEW OF CHINA. 171 

ing, the resemblance to the lower Mississippi was almost per- 
fect. 

Mr. Maack says of this region : 

" In the early part of the year when the yellow blossoms 
of the Lonicera chrysantha fill the air with their fragrance, 
when the syringas bloom and the Hylonecon bedecks large 
tracts with a bright golden hue, when corydales, violets, and 
pasque flowers are open, the forests near the Ousuree may 
bear comparison in variety of richness and coloring with the 
open woods of the prairie country. Later in the year, the 
scarcity of flowers is compensated by the richness of the 
herbage, and after a shower of rain delicious perfumes are 
wafted towards us from the tops of the walnut and cork trees." 

A little past noon we touched at the Russian village of 
Petrovsky. At this place the river was rapidly washing the 
banks, and I was told that during three years nearly four 
hundred feet in front of the village had been carried away. 
The single row of houses forming the settlement stands with 
a narrow street between it and the edge of the bank. The 
whole population, men, women, and children, turned out to 
meet us. The day was cool and the men were generally in 
their sheepskin coats. The women wore gowns of coarse 
cloth of different colors, and each had a shawl over her head. 
Some wore coats of sheepskin like those of the men, and 
several were barefooted. Two women walked into the river 
and stood with utter nonchalance where the water was fifteen 
inches deep. I immersed my thermometer and found it in- 
dicated 51°. 

Walking on shore I was nearly overturned by a small hog 
running between my legs. The brute, with a dozen of his 
companions, had pretty much his own way at Petrovsky, and 
after this introduction I was careful about my steps. These 
hogs are modelled something like blockade runners : with 
great length, narrow beam, and light draft. They are capa- 
ble of high speed, and would make excellent time if pursued 
by a bull-dog or pursuing a swill-bucket. 

A peasant told us there were wild geese in a pond near by, 



172 



.IBEEIAN BAEGES. 



and as the boat remained an hour or more to take wood, 
Borasdine and I improvised a hunting excursion. It proved 
in every sense a wild-goose chase, as the birds flew away be- 




KECEPTION AT PETROVSKY. 



fore we were in shooting distance. Not wishing to return 
empty-handed we purchased two geese a few hundred yards 
from the village, and assumed an air of great dignity as we 
approached the boat. We subsequently ascertained that the 
same geese were offered to the steward for half the price we 
paid. 

Just above Petrovsky we passed the steamer Amoor, which 
left Nicolayevsk a week before us with three barges in tow. 
With such a heavy load her progress was very slow. Barges 
on the Amoor river are generally built of iron, and nearly as 
large as the steamers. They are not towed alongside as on 
the Mississippi, but astern. The rope from the steamer to 
the first barge is about two hundred feet long, and the barges 
follow each other at similar distances. Looking- at this 
steamer struggling against the current and impeded by the 
barges, brought to mind Pope's needless Alexandrine : 

" That, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along." 

Each barge has a crew, subordinate, of course, to the cap^ 
tain of the tow-boat. This crew steers the barge in accord- 



A DIPLOMATIC OVERSIGHT. 173 

ance with the course of the steamer, looks after its welfare, 
and watches over the freight on board. In case it fastens on 
a sand bar the crew remains with it, and sometimes has the 
pleasure of wintering there. The barge is decked like a ship, 
and has two or three hatchways for receiving and discharging 
freight. Over each hatchway is a derrick that appears at a 
distance not unlike a mast. 

Above Petrovsky the banks generally retain their level 
character on the Russian side. Cliffs and hills frequently 
extend to the water on the Chinese shore, most of the land 
being covered with forests of foliferous trees. Some of the 
mountains are furrowed along their sides as regularly as if 
turned with a gigantic plow. Near the villages of Ettoo and 
Dyrki the cliffs are precipitous and several hundred feet high ; 
at their base the water is deep and the current very strong. 
On the north shore the plain is generally free from tall trees, 
but has a dense growth of grass and bushes. Sand-banks are 
frequent, and the islands are large and numerous. 

This region is much frequented during the fishing season, 
and the huts of the natives, their canoes and drying scaffolds 
are quite numerous. There are but few fixed villages, the 
country not being desirable for permanent habitation. Near 
one village there was a gently sloping hillside about a mile 
square with a forest of oak so scattered that it had a close 
resemblance to an American apple-orchard. 

The treaty between Russia and China, fixing the bound- 
aries between the two empires, contains a strange oversight. 
Dated on the 14th of November, 1860, it says: 

" Henceforth the eastern frontier between the two empires 
shall commence from the junction of the rivers Shilka and 
Argoon, and will follow the* course of the River Amoor to the 
junction of the river Ousuree with the latter. The land on 
the left bank (to the north) of the River Amoor belongs to 
the empire of Russia, and the territory on the right bank (to 
the south) to the junction of the River Ousuree, to the em- 
pire of China." 

The treaty further establishes the boundaries from the 



174 A SCANTY POPULATION. 

mouth of the Ousuree to the sea of Japan, and along the 
western region toward Central Asia. It provides for commis- 
sioners to examine the frontier line. 

It declares that trade shall be free of duty along the entire 
line, and removes all commercial restrictions. It gives the 
merchants of Kiachta the right of going to Pekin, Oorga, and 
Kalgan ; allows a Russian consulate at Oorga, and permits 
Russian merchants to travel anywhere in China. It annuls 
former treaties, and establishes a postal arrangement between 
Pekin and Kiachta. 

I presume the oversight in the treaty was on the part of 
the Chinese, as the Russians are too shrewd in diplomacy to 
omit any point of advantage. Nothing is said about the land 
in the Amoor. " The land on the north bank is Russian, and 
on the south bank Chinese." What is to be the nationality 
of the islands in the river ? Some of them are large enough 
to hold a population of importance, or be used as the sites of 
fortifications. There are duchies and principalities in Europe 
of less territorial extent than some islands of the Amoor. 

When Russia desires them she will doubtless extend her 
protection, and I observed during my voyage that several isl- 
ands were occupied by Russian settlers for hay-cutting and 
other purposes. Why could not an enterprising man of des- 
tiny like the grey-eyed Walker or unhappy Maximilian pene- 
trate the Amoor and found a new government on an island 
that nobody owns ? Quite likely his adventure would result 
like the conquests of Mexico and Nicaragua, but this proba- 
bility should not cause a man of noble blood to hesitate. 

Below the Ousuree the Russian villages were generally on 
the south bank of the river, but after passing that stream I 
found them all on the north side. The villages tributary to 
China consisted only of the settlements of Goldees and Man- 
goons, or their temporary fishing stations. The Chinese em- 
pire contains much territory still open to colonization, and I 
imagine that it would be to the interest of the Celestial gov- 
ernment to scatter its population more evenly over its domin- 
ions. Possibly it does not wish to send its subjects into re- 



VISITING A MILITARY POST. 175 

gions that may hereafter fall into the hands of the emperor 
of Russia. There is a great deal of land in Manjouria 
adapted to agriculture, richly timbered and watered, but con- 
taining a very small population. Millions of people could 
find homes where there are now but a few thousands. 

A Russian village and military post seventeen miles below 
the mouth of the Songaree is named Michael Semen of, in 
honor of the Governor General of Eastern Siberia. We 
landed before the commandant's house, where two iron guns 
pointed over the river in the direction of China. However 
threatening they appeared I was informed they were unser- 
viceable for purposes of war, and only employed in firing sa- 
lutes. A military force was maintained there, and doubtless 
kept a sharp watch over the Chinese frontier. 

The soldiers appeared under good sanitary regulations, and 
the quarters of the Commandant indicated an appreciation 
of the comforts of life. The peasants that gathered on the 
bank were better dressed than those of Petrovsky and other 
villages. The town is on a plain covered with a scattered 
growth of oaks. Below this place the wood furnished us was 
generally ash or poplar ; here it was oak, somewhat gnarly 
and crooked, but very good for steamboat fuel. One design 
of the colonization of the Amoor is to furnish a regular sup- 
ply of wood to the government steamers. The peasants cut 
the wood and bring it to the bank of the river. Private 
steamers pay cash for what they purchase ; the captains of 
the government boats gives vouchers for the wood they take, 
and these vouchers are redeemed at the end of the season of 
navigation. About sixty thousand roubles worth of wood is 
consumed annually by government, and twelve thousand on 
private account. 

While the boat took wood Borasdine and I resumed our 
hunting, he carrying a shot-gun and I an opera glass ; with 
this division of labor we managed to bag a single snipe and 
kill another, which was lost in the river. My opera glass 
was of assistance in finding the birds in the grass ; they were 
quite abundant almost within rifle-shot of town, and it seemed 



17G 



VIEWING THE SONGAREE. 



strange that the officers of the post did not devote their leis- 
ure to snipe hunting. 

Our snipe was cooked for dinner, and equalled any I ever 
saw at Delmonico's. We had a wild goose at the same meal, 

and after a careful trial 
I can pronounce the Si- 
berian goose an edible 
bird. He is not less cun- 
ning than wild geese else- 
where, but with all his 
adroitness he frequently 
falls into the hands of 
man and graces his din- 
ner table. 

On the northern hori- 
zon, twenty or thirty 
miles from Michael Se- 
menof, there is a range 
of high and rugged moun- 
tains. As we left the 
town, near the close of 
day, the clouds broke in 
the west and the sunshine 
lighted up these moun- 
tains and seemed to lift them above their real position. With 
the red and golden colors of the clouds ; the lights and shad- 
ows of the mountains ; the yellow forests of autumn, and 
the green plains near the river ; the stillness broken only by 
our own motion or the rippling of the river, the scene was 
' most lair to look upon.' I have never seen sunsets more 
beautiful than those of the Amoor. 

I rose early in the morning to look at the mouth of the 
Songaree. Under a cloudy moon I could distinguish little 
beyond the outline of the land and the long low water lino 
where the Amoor and Songaree sweep at right angles from 
their respective valleys. Even though it was not daylight I 
could distinguish the line of separation, or union, between 




AKMKI) AND EQUIPPED. 



THE CLAIM OF CHINA. 177 

the waters of the two streams, just as one can observe it 
where the Missouri and Mississippi unite above Saint Louis. 
I would have given much to see this place in full daylight, 
but the fates willed it otherwise. 

This river is destined at some time to play an important 
part in Russian and Chinese diplomacy. At present it is en- 
tirely controlled by China, but it appears on all the late maps 
of Eastern Siberia with such minuteness as to indicate that 
the Russians expect to obtain it before long. Formerly the 
Chinese claimed the Songaree as the real Amoor, and based 
their argument on the fact that it follows the general course 
of the united stream and carried a volume of water as large 
as the other. They have now abandoned this claim, which 
the Russians are entirely willing to concede. Once the fact 
established that the Songaree is the real Amoor, the Russians 
would turn to the treaty which gives them " all the land north 
of the Amoor." Their next step would be to occupy the best 
part of Manjouria, which would be theirs by the treaty. 

By far the larger portion of Manjouria is drained by the 
Songaree and its tributaries. The sources of this river are 
in the Shanalin mountains, that separate Corea from Man- 
jouria, and are ten or twelve thousand feet high. They re- 
semble the Sierra Nevadas in having a lake twelve miles in 
circumference as high in air as Lake Tahoe. The affluents 
of the Songaree run through a plateau in some places densely 
wooded while in others it has wide belts of prairie and marshy 
ground. A large part of the valley consists of low, fertile 
lands, through which the river winds with very few impedi- 
ments to navigation. 

Yery little is known concerning the valley, but it is said to 
be pretty well peopled and to produce abundantly. M. De 
la Bruniere when traveling to the country of the Gilyaks in 
1845, crossed this valley, and found a dense population along 
the river, but a smaller one farther inland. The principal 
cities are Kirin and Sansin on the main stream, and Sit-si-gar 
on the Nonni, one of its tributaries. The Songaree is navi- 
gable to Kirin, about thirteen hundred versts from the Amoor, 
12 



178 COUNTRY NEAR THE SONGAREE. 

and it is thought the Nonni can be ascended to Sit-si-gar. 
The three cities have each a population of about a hundred 
thousand. 

According to the treaty of 1860 Russian merchants with 
proper passports may enter Chinese territory, but no more 
than two hundred can congregate in one locality. Russian 
merchants have been to all the cities in Manjouria, but the 
difficulties of travel are not small. The Chinese authorities 
are jealous of foreigners, and restrict their movements as 
much as possible. 

The Russians desire to open the Songaree to commerce, 
but the Chinese prefer seclusion. A month before my visit 
a party ascended the river to ascertain its resources. A gen- 
tleman told me the Chinese used every means except actual 
force to hinder the progress of the steamer and prevent the 
explorers seeing much of the country. "Whenever any one 
went on shore the people crowded around in such numbers 
that nothing else could be seen. Almost the whole result of 
the expedition was to ascertain that the river was navigable 
and its banks well peopled. 

In the dim light of morning I saw some houses at the 
junction of the rivers, and learned they were formerly the 
quarters of a Manjour guard. Until 1864 a military force, 
with two or three war junks, was kept at the mouth of the 
Songaree to prevent Russian boats ascending. Mr. Maximo- 
wicz, the naturalist, endeavored in 1859 to explore the river 
as far as the mouth of the Nonni. Though his passport was 
correct, the Manjour guard ordered him to stop, and when he 
insisted upon proceeding the Celestial raised his matchlock. 
Maximowicz exhibited a rifle and revolver and forced a pas- 
sage. 

He was not molested until within forty miles of San-Sin, 
when the natives came out with flails, but prudently held 
aloof on seeing the firearms in the boat. Finding he could 
not safely proceed, the gentleman turned about when only 
twenty-five miles below the city. 

After passing the Songaree I found a flat country with wide 



TAKING SOUNDINGS. 179 

prairies on either side of the river. In the forest primeval 
the trees were dense and large, and where no trees grew the 
grass was luxuriant. The banks were alluvial and evidently, 
washed by the river during times of freshet. There were 
many islands, but the windings of the river were more regu- 
lar than farther down. I saw no native villages and only 
two or three fishing stations. Those acquainted with the 
river say its banks have fewer inhabitants there than in any 
other portion. 

On the Russian shore there were only the villages estab- 
lished by government, but notwithstanding its lack of popu- 
lation, the country was beautiful. With towns, plantations, 
and sugar-mills, it would greatly resemble the region between 
Baton Rouge and New Orleans. I could perceive that the 
volume of the river was much diminished above its junction 
with the Songaree. 

At long and rare intervals snags were visible, but not in 
the navigable channel. We took soundings with a seven foot 
pole attached to a rope fastened to the rail of the boat. A 
man threw the pole as if he were spearing fish, and watched 
the depth to which it descended. The depth of water was 
shouted in a monotonous drawl. " Sheiste ; sheiste polivin- 
nay ; sem; sem polivinnay ;" and so on through the various 
quantities indicated. I thought the manner more convenient 
than that in use on some of our western rivers. 

While smoking a cigar on the bridge I was roused by the 
cry of "tigre! tigre!" from Borasdine. I looked to where 
he pointed on the Chinese shore and could see an animal 
moving slowly through the grass. It may have been a tiger, 
and so it was pronounced by the Russians who saw it ; I have 
never looked upon a real tiger outside of a menagerie, and 
am not qualified to. give an opinion. I brought my opera 
glass and Borasdine his rifle, but the beast did not again show 
himself. Provoked by this glimpse my companions retired 
to the cabin and made a theoretical combat with the animal 
until dinner time. 

The day was made memorable by a decent dinner ; the 



180 A PERILOUS ADVENTURE. 

special reason for it was the fact that Borasdine had presented 
our caterer with an old coat. I regretted I could not afford 
to reduce my wardrobe, else we would have secured another 
comfortable repast. Both steward and cook were somewhat 
negligently clad, and possibly a spare garment or two might 
have opened their hearts and larders. 

Of course the sight of the tiger led to stories about his 
kindred, and we whiled away a portion of the evening in 
narrating incidents of a more or less personal character. An 
officer, who was temporarily our fellow-passenger, on his way 
to one of the Cossack posts, a few miles above, gave an ac- 
count of his experience with a tiger on the Ousuree. 

I was out (said he) on a survey that we were making on 
behalf of the government to establish the boundary between 
Russia and China. The country was then less known than 
now ; there were no settlements along the river, and with the 
exception of the villages of the natives, thirty or forty miles 
apart, the whole country was a wilderness. At one village 
we were warned that a large tiger had within a month killed 
two men and attacked a third, who was saved only by the 
sudden and unexpected appearance of a party of friends. 
We prepared our rifles and pistols, to avoid the possibility of 
their missing fire in case of an encounter with the man-steal- 
ing beast. Kather reluctantly some of the natives consented 
to serve us as guides to the next village. We generally found 
them ready enough to assist us, as we paid pretty liberally 
for their services, and made love to all the young women that 
the villages contained. With an eye to a successful cam- 
paign, I laid in a liberal supply of trinkets to please these 
aboriginals, and found that they served their purposes admir- 
ably. So the natives were almost universally kind to us, and 
their reluctance to accompany us on this occasion showed the 
great fear they entertained of the tiger. 

We were camped on the bank of the Ousuree, about ten 
miles from the village, and passed the night without disturb- 
ance. In the morning, while we were preparing for break- 
fast, one of the natives went a few hundred yards away, to a 



TIGEE HUNT ON THE OUSUEEE. 181 

little pond near, where he thought it possible to spear some 
salmon. He waded out till he was immersed to his waist, 
and then with his spear raised, stood motionless as a statue 
for several minutes. Suddenly he darted the spear into the 
water and drew out a large salmon, which he threw to the 
shore, and then resumed his stationary position. In twenty 
minutes he took three or four salmon, and then started to re- 
turn to camp. Just as he climbed the bank and had gathered 
his fish, a large tiger darted from the underbrush near by, 
and sprung upon him as a cat would spring upon a mouse. 

Stopping not a moment, the tiger ran up the hillside and 
disappeared. I was looking toward the river just as the tiger 
sprang upon him, and so were two of the natives ; we all ut- 
tered a cry of astonishment, and were struck motionless for 
an instant, though only for an instant. The unfortunate man 
did not struggle with the beast, and as the latter did not stop 
to do more than seize him, I suspected that the fright and 
suddenness of the attack had caused a fainting fit. I and 
my Russian companion seized our rifles, and the natives their 
spears, and started in pursuit. 

We tracked the tiger through the underbrush, partly by 
the marks left by his feet, but mainly by the drops of blood 
that had fallen from his victim. Going over a ridge, we lost 
the trail, and though we spread out and searched very care- 
fully, it was nearly an hour before we could resume the pur- 
suit. Every minute seemed an age, as we well knew that the 
tiger would thus gain time to devour his prey. Probably I 
was less agitated than the natives, but I freely and gladly ad- 
mit that I have never had my nerves more unstrung than on 
that occasion, though I have been in much greater peril. 
We searched through several clumps of bushes, and exam- 
ined several thickets, in the hope of finding where the tiger 
had concealed himself. The natives approached all these 
thickets with fear and trembling, so that most of the search- 
ing was done by the Russian members of the party. 

Just as we were beating around a little clump of bushes, 



182 



A SHARP FIGHT. 



fifteen or twenty yards across, my companion on the other 
side shouted : 

" Look out ; the tiger is preparing to spring upon you." 
Instantly I cocked my rifle and fired into the bushes ; they 
were so dense that I could hardly discern the outline of the 
beast, who had me in full view, and was crouching prepara- 
tory to making a leap. I called to my friend to shoot, as the 
density of the thicket made it very probable that my fire 
would be lost, by the ball glancing among the shrubbery. 
But my friend was in the same predicament, and I quickly 
formed a plan of operations. 

We were both good shots, and I thought our safety lay in 
killing the beast as he rose in the air. Aiming at his head, 

I stepped slow- 
1 y backward, 
and shouted to 
my friend to 



cover the tiger 
and shoot as 
he sprang. 
All this occur- 
red in less 
time than I 
tell of it. 
Hardly had I 
stepped two 
paces back- 
ward when the 
tiger leaped 
toward me. 
As he rose, 
his throat was exposed for a moment, and I planted a bullet 
in his breast. Simultaneously a ball from the other rifle 
struck his side. We fired so closely together that neither of 
us heard the report of the other's weapon. The tiger gave a 
roar of agony, and despite the wounds he received, either of 
which would have been fatal, he completed his spring so 




«r<> ^ - *k 



GENERAL ACTIVITY. 



BUKIAL OF A NATIVE. 



183 



nearly that he caught me by the foot and inflicted a wound 
that lamed me for several months, and left permanent scars. 

The natives, hearing the report of our rifles, came to our 
assistance, and so great was their reverence for the tiger, 
that they prostrated themselves before his quivering body, and 
muttered some words which I could not understand. 

Though assured that the beast was dead, they hesitated to 
enter the thicket to search for the body of their companion, 
and it was only on my leading the way that they entered it. 

We found the remains of the poor native somewhat muti- 
lated, though less so than I expected. There was no trace 
of suffering upon his features, and I was confirmed in my 
theory that he fainted the moment he was seized, and was 
not conscious afterward. His friends insisted upon burying 
the body where they found it, and said it was their custom to 
do so. They piled logs above the grave, and after the observ- 
ance of certain pagan rites, to secure the repose of the de- 
ceased, they signified their readiness to proceed. 

The tiger was one of the largest of his kind. I had his 
skin carefully removed, and sent it with my official report to 
St. Petersburg. A Chinese mandarin who met me near Lake 
Hinka offered me a high price for the skin, but I declined his 
offer, in order to show our Emperor what his Siberian posses- 
sions contained. 




CHAPTER XVI. 

ON the morning of September 28th we arrived at Ekat- 
erin-Nikolskoi, a flourishing settlement, said to con- 
tain nearly three hundred houses. It stood on a plateau forty 
feet above the river, and was the best appearing village I had 
seen since leaving Habarof ka. The people that gathered on 
the bank were comfortably clad and evidently well fed, but I 
could not help wondering how so many could leave their labor 
to look at a steamboat. The country was considered excel- 
lent for agriculture, yielding abundantly all the grains that 
had been tried. 

On the Amoor the country below Gorin belongs to the 
Maritime province, which has its capital at Nicolayevsk. 
Above Gorin is the Province of The Amoor, controlled by 
the governor at Blagoveshchensk. In the Maritime Province 
the settlers are generally of the civilian or peasant class, 
while in the Amoor Province they are mostly Cossacks. The 
latter depend more upon themselves than the former, and I 
was told that this was one cause of their prosperity. Many 
peasants in the Maritime Province do not raise enough flour 
for their own use, and rely upon government when there is a 
deficiency. 

It is my opinion that the Emperor does too much for some 
of his subjects in the eastern part of his dominions. In 
Kamchatka and along the coast of the Ohotsk sea the people 
are supplied with flour at a low price or for nothing, a ship 
coming annually to bring it. It has been demonstrated that 
agriculture is possible in Kamchatka. When I asked why 
rye was not raised there, one reply was : " We get our flour 

(184) 



COSSACK VILLAGES ON THE AMOOE. 185 

from government, and have no occasion to make it." Now 
if the government would furnish the proper facilities for com- 
mencing agriculture, and then throw the inhabitants on their 
own resources, I think it would make a decided change for 
the better. A self-reliant population is always the best. 

Some of the colonists on the Amoor went there of their 
own accord, induced by liberal donations of land and mate- 
rials, while others were moved by official orders. In Siberia 
the government can transfer a population at its will. A 
whole village may be commanded to move ten, a hundred, or 
a thousand miles, and it has only to obey. The people gather 
their property, take their flocks and herds, and move where 
commanded. They are reimbursed for losses in changing 
their residence, and the expense of new houses is borne by 
government. A community may be moved from one place 
to another, and the settlers find themselves surrounded by 
their former neighbors. 

The Cossacks are moved oftener than the peasants, as they 
are more directly subject to orders. I found the Cossack vil- 
lages on the Amoor were generally laid out with military pre- 
cision, the streets where the ground permitted being straight 
as sunbeams, and the houses of equal size. Usually each 
house had a small yard or flower garden in its front, but it 
was not always carefully tended. Every village has a chief 
or headman, who assigns each man his location and watches 
over the general good of his people. When Cossacks are de- 
manded for government service the headman makes the se- 
lection, and all cases of insubordination or dispute are regu- 
lated by him. 

A Cossack is half soldier and half citizen. He owes a 
certain amount of service to the government, and is required 
to labor for it a given number of days in the year. He may 
be called to travel as escort to the mail or to an officer, to 
watch over public property, to row a boat, construct a house, 
or perform any other duty in his power. In case of war he 
becomes a soldier and is sent wherever required. As a ser- 
vant of government he receives rations for himself and fam- 



186 PASSING A MOUNTAIN CHAIN. 

ily, but I believe he is not paid in money. The time belong- 
ing to himself he can devote to agriculture or any other em- 
ployment he chooses. 

The Cossacks reside with their families, and some of them 
acquire considerable property. A Russian officer told me 
there were many wealthy Cossacks along the Argoon river on 
the boundary between Russia and China. They trade across 
the frontier, and own large droves of cattle, horses, and sheep. 
Some of their houses are spacious and fitted with consider- 
able attempt at luxury. The Amoor settlements are at pres- 
ent too young to possess much wealth. 

Soon after leaving Ekaterin-Nikolskoi we entered the Bur- 
yea or Hingan mountains. This chain extends across the 
valley of the Amoor at nearly right angles, and the river 
flows through it in a single narrow defile. The mountains 
first reach the river on the northern bank, the Chinese shore 
continuing low for thirteen miles higher up. There are no 
islands, and the river, narrowed to about half a mile, flows 
with a rapid current. In some places it runs five miles an 
hour, and its depth is from fifty to a hundred feet. The 
mountains come to the river on either bank, sometimes in 
precipitous cliffs, but generally in regular slopes. 

Their elevation is about a thousand feet, and they are cov- 
ered to their summits with dense forests of foliferous and 
coniferous trees. Occasionally the slopes are rocky or covered 
with loose debris that does not give clinging room to the 
trees. The undergrowth is dense, and everything indicates 
a good vegetation. 

The mountains are of mica-schist, clay-slate, and rocks of 
similar origin resting upon an axis of granite. Porphyry has 
been found in one locality. According to the geologists there 
are indications of gold and other precious metals, and I would 
not be surprised if a thorough exploration led to valuable 
discoveries. 

As the boat struggled against the current in this mountain 
passage I spent most of the time on deck. Tbe tortuous 
course of the river added much to the scenic effect. Almost 



A SLIGHT ACCIDENT. — MAN J OUR BOATS. 187 

every minute the picture changed. Hill, forest, cliff, and 
valley assumed different aspects as we wound our sinuous 
way up the defile. Here and there were tiny cascades break- 
ing over the steep rocks to the edge of the river, and occa- 
sionally a little meadow peeped out from the mountain val- 
leys. Some features of the scenery reminded me of the 
Highlands of the Hudson, or the Mississippi above Lake 
Pepin. At times we seemed completely enclosed in a lake 
from which there was no escape save by climbing the hills. 
Frequently it was impossible to discover any trace of an open- 
ing half a mile in our front. Had we been ascending an un- 
explored river I should have half expected to fmd it issuing 
like a huge spring from the base of a high mountain. 

The Russian villages in these mountains are located in the 
valleys of streams flowing to the Amoor. In one bend we 
found a solitary house newly-erected and waiting its occupants 
who should keep the post-station in winter. We sent a Cos- 
sack ashore in a skiff at this point, and he came near falling 
into the river while descending the steps at the steamer's side. 
While returning from the bank one of the men in the skiff 
broke an oar and fell overboard, which obliged us to back the 
steamer nearly half a mile down the river to pick him up. 
The unlucky individual was arrayed in the only suit of clothes 
he possessed, and was hung up to dry in the engine room. 

A mile above this landing place we passed two Manjour 
boats ascending the stream. These boats were each about 
twenty feet long, sitting low in the water with the bow more 
elevated than the stern, and had a mast in the center for car- 
rying a small sail. In the first boat I counted six men, four 
pushing with poles, one steering, and the sixth, evidently the 
proprietor, lying at ease on the baggage. Where the nature 
of the ground permits the crew walk along the shore and tow 
the boat. 

The men were in cotton garments and conical hats, and 
their queues of hair hung like ships pennants in a dead calm, 
or the tails of a group of scared dogs. They seemed to en- 
joy themselves, and were laughing merrily as we went past 



188 



MANY NAMES FOR THE AMOOR. 



them. They waved their hands up the stream as if urging 
us to*go ahead and say they were coming. The one reclining 
was a venerable personage, with a thin beard fringing a se- 
date visage, into which he drew long whiffs and comfort from 
a Chinese pipe. 

These boats were doubtless from Kirin or San-Sin, on their 
way to Igoon. The voyage must be a tedious one to any but 

a Mongol, 
much like the 
navigation of 
the Mississip- 
pi before the 
days of steam- 
bo a t s . In 
spite of the 
great advant- 
ages to com- 
merce, the 
Manjours r e- 
sisted to the 
last the intro- 
duction of steam on the Amoor just as they now oppose it 
on the Songaree. 

In the language of the natives along its banks the Amoor 
has several names. The Chinese formerly called the Songa- 
ree ' Ku-tong,' and considered the lower Amoor a part of that 
stream. Above the Songaree the Amoor was called ' Sakha- 
lin-Oula,' (black water,) by the Manjours and Chinese. The 
Goldees named it ' Mongo,' and the Gilyaks called it ' Mamoo.' 
The name Amoor was given by the Russians, and is considered 
a corruption of the Gilyak word. When Mr. Collins descend- 
ed, in 1857, the natives near Igoon did not or would not un- 
derstand him when he spoke of the Amoor. They called the 
river ' Sakhalin,' a name which the Russians gave to the long 
island at the mouth of the Amoor. As the Mongolian maps 
do not reach the outside world I presume the Russian names 
are most likely to endure with geographers. 




MANJOUR BOAT. 



WOMEN IN THE OPEN A IB. 189 

The upper part of the defile of the Burjea Mountains is 
wider and has more meadows than the lower portion. On 
one of these meadows, where there is a considerable extent 
of arable land, we found the village of Raddevski, named in 
honor of the naturalist Raddy, who explored this region. 
The resources here were excellent, if I may judge by the 
quantity and quality of edibles offered to our steward. The 
people of both sexes flocked to the landing with vegetables, 
bread, chickens, butter, and other good things in much larger 
quantity than we desired. There was a liberal supply of pigs 
and chickens, with many wild geese and ducks. We bought 
a pig and kept him on board three or four days. He squealed 
without cessation, until our captain considered him a bore, 
and ordered him killed and roasted. 

Pigs were generally carried in bags or in the arms of their 
owners. One day a woman brought a thirty pound pig sus- 
pended over her shoulder. The noise and kicking of the 
brute did not disturb her, and she held him as unconcernedly 
as if he were an infant. Finding no market for her property, 
she turned it loose and allowed it to take its own way home. 
Milk was almost invariably brought in bottles, and eggs in 
boxes or baskets. Eggs were sold by the dizaine (ten,) and 
not as with us by the dozen. 

At Raddevski several kinds of berries were offered us, but 
only the blackberry and whortleberry were familiar to my 
eyes. One berry, of which I vainly tried to catch the Rus- 
sian name, was of oblong shape, three-fourths an inch in 
length, and had the taste of a sweet grape. It was said to 
grow on a climbing vine. Cedar nuts were offered in large 
quantities, but I did not purchase. 

Here, as elsewhere on the lower Amoor, men and women 
labor together in the fields and engage equally in marketing 
at the boats. I was much amused in watching the commer- 
cial transactions between the peasants and our steward. I 
could not understand what was said, but the conversation in 
loud tones and with many words had much the appearance 
of an altercation. Several times I looked around expecting 



190 A NEW LOT OP NATIVES. 

to see blows, but the excitement was confined to the vocal 
organs alone. 

The passage of the Amoor through the Buryea mountains 
is nearly a hundred miles in length. Toward the upper end 
the mountains are more precipitous and a few peaks rise high 
above the others, like The Sentinels in Yosemite valley. The 
last cliff before one reaches the level country is known as 
Cape Sverbef, a bold promontory that projects into the river 
and is nearly a thousand feet high. Not far from this cliff 
is a flat-topped mountain remarkable for several crevices on 
its northern side, from which currents of cold air steadily is- 
sue. Ice forms around these fissures in midsummer, and a 
thermometer suspended in one of them fell in an hour to 30° 
Fahrenheit. 

An hour after passing the mountains I saw a dozen conical 
huts on the Chinese shore and a few dusky natives lounging 
in front of them. They reminded me of the lodges of our 
noble red men as I saw them west of the Missouri several 
years before. Instead of being Cheyennes or Sioux they 
proved to be Birars, a tribe of wandering Tunguse who in- 
habit this region. Their dwellings were of light poles cov- 
ered with birch bark. One of the native gentlemen was near 
the bank of the river in the attitude of an orator, but not 
properly dressed for a public occasion. His only garments 
were a hat and a string of beads, and he was accompanied 
by a couple of young ladies in the same picturesque costume, 
minus the hat and beads. 

These Tungusians lead a nomadic life. Above the mouth 
of the Zeya there are two other tribes of similar character, 
the Managres and Orochons. The principal difference be- 
tween them is that the former keep the horse and the latter 
the reindeer. The Birars have no beasts of burden except a 
very few horses. 

None of these people live in permanent houses, but move 
about wherever attracted by fishing or the chase. During 
spring and summer they generally live on the banks of the 
river, where they catch and cure fish. Their scaffoldings and 



AMONG THE TUNGTJZIANS. 191 

storehouses were like those oi the natives already described, 
and during their migrations are left without guards and uni- 
versally respected. Their fish are dried for winter use, and 
they sell the roe of the sturgeon to the Russians for making 
caviar. 

My first acquaintance with caviar was at Nicolayevsk, and 
I soon learned to like it. It is generally eaten with bread, 
and forms an important ingredient in the Russian lunch. 
On the Volga its preparation engages a great many mem, and 
the caviar from that river is found through the whole empire. 
Along the Amoor the business is in its infancy, the produc- 
tion thus far being for local consumption. I think if some 
enterprising American would establish the preparation of ca- 
viar on the Hudson where the sturgeon is abundant, he could 
make a handsome profit in shipping it to Russia. 

The roe is taken from the fish and carefully washed. The 
membrane that holds the eggs together is then broken, and 
after a second washing the substance is ready for salting. 
One kind for long carriage and preservation is partially dried 
and then packed and sealed in tin cans. The other is put in 
kegs, without pressing, and cannot be kept a long time. 

In the autumn and winter the natives are hunters. They 
chase elk and deer for their flesh, and sables, martens, and 
squirrels for their furs. Squirrels are especially abundant, 
and a good hunter will frequently kill a thousand in a single 
season. The Siberian squirrel of commerce comes from this 
region by way of Irkutsk and St. Petersburg. The natives 
hunt the bear and are occasionally hunted by him. 

At one landing a Birar exhibited an elk skin which he 
wished to exchange for tobacco, and was quite delighted when 
I gave him a small quantity of the latter. He showed me a 
scar on his arm where a bear had bitten him two or three 
years before. The marks of the teeth and the places where 
the flesh was torn could be easily seen, but I was unable to 
learn the particulars of his adventure. 

These Tungusians are rather small in stature, and their 
arms and legs are thin. Their features are broad, their 



192 A MODERN FORTIFICATION. 

mouths large and lips narrow, and their hair is black and 
smooth, the men having very little beard. Their clothing is 
of the skins of elk and deer, with some garments of cotton 
cloth of Chinese manufacture. Most of the men I saw wore 
a belt at the waist, to which several articles of daily use were 
attached. 

At each Russian settlement above the mountains I observed 
a large post painted in the official colors and supporting a 
board inscribed with the name of the village. It was fixed 
close to the landing place, and evidently designed for the 
convenience of strangers. One of my exercises in learning 
the language of the country was to spell the names on these 
signs. I found I could usually spell much faster if I knew 
beforehand the name of a village. It was like having a 
Bonn's translation of a Latin exercise. 

At the village of Inyakentief I saw the first modern forti- 
fication since leaving Nicolayevsk, — a simple lunette without 
cannon but with several hundred cannon shot somewhat rusty 
with age. The governor of this village was a prince by title, 
and evidently controlled his subjects very well. I saw 
Madame the princess, but did not have the pleasure of her 
acquaintance. She was dressed in a costume of which crino- 
line, silk, and ribbons were component parts, contrasting 
sharply with the coarse garments of the peasant women. 

This village had recently sold a large quantity of wheat 
and rye to the government. It had the best church 1 had 
seen since leaving Nicolayevsk, and its general appearance 
was prosperous. Among the women that came to the boat 
was one who recognized Borasdine as an old acquaintance. 
She hastened back to her house and brought him two loaves 
of bread made from wheat of that year's growth. As a token 
of friendship he gave her a piece of sugar weighing a pound 
or two and a glass of bad brandy that brought many tears to 
her eyes. I think she was at least fifteen minutes drinking 
the fiery liquid, which she sipped as one would take a com- 
pound of cayenne pepper and boiling water. The worst 



EASY NAVIGATION . — N ET FISHING. 193 

' tanglefoot ' or ' forty -rod ' from Cincinnati or St. Louis would 
have been nectar by the side of that brandy. 

The country for a hundred miles or more above the Buryea 
mountains was generally level. Here and there were hills 
and ridges, and in the background on the south a few moun- 
tains were visible. There were many islands which, with the 
banks of alluvium, were evidently cut by the river in high 
freshets. Where the beach sloped to the water there was a 
little driftwood, and I could see occasional logs resting upon 
islands and sand bars. 

When taken in a tumbler the water of the Amoor appeared 
perfectly clear, but in the river it had a brownish tinge. 
There were no snags and no floating timber. I never fancied 
an iron boat for river travel owing to the ease of puncturing 
it. On the Mississippi or Missouri it would be far from safe, 
but on the Amoor there are fewer perils of navigation. 
More boats have been lost there from carelessness or igno- 
rance than from accidents really unavoidable. The Amoor 
is much like what the Mississippi would be with all its snags 
removed and its channel made permanent. 

While among the islands I saw a small flotilla of boats in 
line across a channel, and after watching them through a 
glass discovered they were hauling a net. There were ten or 
twelve summer huts on the point of an island, and the boats 
were at least twice as many. A dozen men on shore were 
hauling a net that appeared well filled with fish. I do not 
think a single native looked up as we passed. Possibly they 
have a rule there not to attend to outside matters when exer- 
cising their professions. 

13 



CHAPTER XVII. 



THE second day above the mountains we passed a region 
of wide prairie stretching far to the north and bearing 
a dense growth of'rank grass and bushes, with a few clumps 
of trees. On the Chinese side there were hills that sloped 
gently to the river's edge or left a strip of meadow between 
them and the water. Many hills were covered with a thin 
forest of oaks and very little underbrush. . At a distance the 
ground appeared as if carefully trimmed for occupation, 
especially as it had a few open places like fields. In the sere 
and yellow leaf of autumn these groves were charming, and 
I presume they are equally so in the fresh verdure of summer. 

If by some magic the Amoor could be transferred to Ame- 
rica, and change its mouth from the Gulf of Tartary to the 
Bay of New York, a multitude of fine mansions would soon 
rise on its banks. 

Among the islands that stud this portion of the river we 
passed the steamer Constantine with two barges in tow- She 
left Nicolayevsk twelve days before us, and her impediments 
made her journey a slow one. Her barges were laden with 
material for the Amoor telegraph, then under construction. 
About the same time we met the Nicolai towing a barge with 
a quantity of cattle destined for the garrison at the mouth of 
the river. The Nicolai was the property of a merchant (Mr. 
Ludorf ) at Nicolayevsk. 

The village of Poyarkof, where we stopped for wood, im- 
pressed me very favorably. It was carefully laid out, and its 
single street had a wide and deep ditch on each side, crossed 
by little bridges. The houses were well built and had an air 

(194) 



ADVICE FOE THE EMPEROR. 195 

of neatness, while all the fences were substantial. Very few 
persons visited the boat, most of the inhabitants being at 
work in the fields. We walked through the settlement, and 
were shown specimens of wheat and rye grown in the vicin- 
ity. Four or five men, directed by a priest, were building a 
church, and two others were cutting plank near by with a 
primitive ' up-and-down ' saw. The officer controlling the 
village was temporarily absent with the farm laborers. All 
around there were proofs of his energy and industry. 

This village was one of the military colonies of the Prov- 
ince of the Amoor. When in proper hands the military set- 
tlement is preferable to any other, as the men are more ac- 
customed to obeying orders and work in greater harmony 
than the peasants. What is most needed is an efficient and 
energetic chief to each village, who has and deserves the con- 
fidence of his people. With enough of the fortiter in re to 
repress any developments of laziness and prevent intemper- 
ance, such a man can do much for the government and him- 
self. 

If His Imperial Majesty will take nine-tenths of his pres- 
ent military force on the Amoor, place it in villages, allow 
the men to send for their families, and put the villages in the 
hands of proper chiefs under a general superintendent, he 
will take a long step toward making the new region self-sus- 
taining. We have ample proof in America that an army is 
an expensive luxury, and the cost of maintaining it is pro- 
portioned to its strength. The verb ' to soldier ' has a double 
meaning in English, and will bear translation. On distant 
stations like the Amoor, the military force could be safely re- 
duced to a small figure in time of peace. Less play and 
more work would be better for the country and the men. 

As we proceeded up the river there was another change of 
the native population. The tents of the Birars disappeared, 
and we entered the region of the Manjours and Chinese. 
The captain called my attention to the first Manjour village 
we passed. The dwellings were one story high, their walls 
being of wood with a plastering of mud. The chimneys 



196 



MAN J OUR VILLAGES AND TEMPLES, 



were on the outside like those of the Goldees already de- 
scribed, and the roofs of the houses were thatched with straw. 
The Manjour villages are noticeable for the gardens in and 
around them. Each house that I saw had a vegetable garden 
that appeared well cultivated. In the corner of nearly every 
garden I observed a small building like a sentry box. In 

some doubt as to its use, 
I asked information of my 
Russian friends, and learn- 
ed it was a temple where 
the family idols are kept 
and the owners go to offer 
their prayers. 

Near each village was a 
grove which enclosed a 
public temple on the plan 
of a church in civilized 
countries. The temple 
was generally a square 
house, built with more 
care and neatness than the 
private dwellings. On en- 
tering, one found himself 
in a kind of ante-room, 
separated from the main 
apartment by a pink curtain. This curtain has religious in- 
scriptions in Chinese and Manjour. In the inner apartment 
there are pictures of Chinese deities, with a few hideous idols 
carved in wood. A table in front of the pictures receives 
the offerings of worshippers. 

The Manjours appear very fond of surrounding their tem- 
ples with trees, and this is particularly noticeable on account 
of the scarcity of wood in this region. Timber comes from 
points higher up the Amoor, where it is cut and rafted down. 
Small trees and bushes are used as fuel and always with the 
strictest economy. The grove around the temple is held 
sacred, as among the Druids in England, and I presume a 




A PKIVATB TEMPLJi. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATIVES. 197 

native would suffer long from cold before cutting a conse- 
crated tree. 

Along the river near the first village several boats were 
moored or drawn on the bank out of reach of the water. A 
few men and women stood looking at us, and some of them 
shouted ' mendow ' when we were directly opposite their posi- 
tion. Of course we returned their salutation. 

Unlike the aboriginals lower down the river, the Manjours 
till the soil and make it their chief dependence. I saw many 
fields where the grain was uncut, and others where it had 
been reaped and stacked. The stacks were so numerous in 
proportion to the population that there must be a large sur- 
plus each year. Evidently there is no part of the Amoor 
valley more fertile than this. Horses and cattle were graz- 
ing in the meadows and looked up as we steamed along. 
We passed a dozen horses drinking from the river, and set 
them scampering with our whistle. 

The horse is used here for carrying light loads, but with 
heavy burdens the ox finds preference. Along the Chinese 
shore I frequently saw clumsy carts moving at a snail-like 
pace between the villages. Each cart had its wheels fixed 
on an axle that generally turned with them. Frequently 
there was a lack of grease, and the screeching of the vehicle 
was rather unpleasant to tender nerves. 

Near the village we met a Manjour boat, evidently the 
property of a merchant. The difference between going with 
and against the current was apparent by comparing the pro- 
gress of this boat with the one I saw in the Buryea moun- 
tains. One struggled laboriously against the stream, but the 
other had nothing to do beyond keeping where the water ran 
swiftest. This one carried a small flag, and was deeply laden 
with merchandise. The crew was dozing and the man at 
the helm did not appear more than half awake. 

Villages were passed in rapid succession, and the density 
of the population was in agreeable contrast to the desolation 
of many parts of the lower Amoor. It was a panorama of 
houses, temples, groves, and fields, with a surrounding of 



198 A DENSE POPULATION. 

rich meadows and gentle hills. There was a range of low 
mountains in the background, but on the Russian shore the 
flat prairie continued. 

In the middle of the afternoon we passed the town of Yah- 
tou-kat-zou, situated on the Chinese shore where the river 
makes a bend toward the north and east. It had nothing of 
special interest, but its gardens were more extensive and 
more numerous than in the villages below. Just above it 
there was a bay forming a neat harbor containing several 
boats and barges. When the Chinese controlled the Amoor 
they occupied this bay as a dock-yard and naval station. 
Had my visit been ten or twelve years earlier I should have 
seen several war junks anchored here. When the Russians 
obtained the river the Chinese transferred their navy to the 
Songaree. 

From this ancient navy yard the villages stretched in a 
nearly continuous line along the southern bank, and were 
quite frequent on the northern one. We saw three Manjour 
women picking berries on the Russian shore. One carried a 
baby over her shoulders much after the manner of the Amer- 
ican Indians. These women wore garments of blue cotton 
shaped much like the gowns of the Russian peasants. Near 
them a boat was moving along the shore, carrying a crew 
consisting of a man, a boy, and a dog. The boat, laden with 
hay, was evidently destined for ' cows and a market.' Near 
it was another boat rowed by two men, carrying six women 
and a quantity of vegetables. Some of the women were 
sorting the vegetables, and all watched our boat with interest. 
From the laughter as we passed I concluded the remarks on 
our appearance were not complimentary. 

The scene on this part of the river was picturesque. There 
were many boats, from the little canoe or ' dug-out,' propelled 
by one man, up to the barge holding several tons of merchan- 
dise. The one-man boats were managed with a double-bladed 
oar, such as I have already described. Nearly every boat 
that carried a mast had a flag or streamer attached to it, and 
some had dragons' heads on their bows. Would Lindley 



NOVEL FISHING APPARATUS, 



199 



Murray permit me to say that I saw one barge manned by 
ten women ? 

Though subsisting mainly by agriculture and pastoral pur- 
suits, the Manjours devote considerable time to fishing. One 
fishing implement bore a faint resemblance to a hand-cart, as 
it had an axle with two small wheels and long handles. A 




FISHING IMPLEMENTS. 



frame over the axle sustained a pole, to which a net was fast- 
ened. The machine could be pushed into the water and the 
net lowered to any position suitable for entrapping fish. 

Occasionally I saw a native seated on the top of a tripod 
about ten feet high, placed at the edge of the river. Here 
he fished with pole, net, or spear, according to circumstances. 
He always appeared to me as if left there during a freshet 
and waiting for the river to rise and let him off. 

At one place two boys were seated cross-legged near the 
water and fishing with long poles. They were so intent in 
looking at us that they did not observe the swell of the 
steamer until thoroughly drenched by it. As they stood drip- 
ping on the sand they laughed good-naturedly at the occur- 
rence, and soon seated themselves again at their employment. 

Late in the afternoon I saw a village larger than all the 
others, lying in a bend of the river, stretching three or four 
miles along the bank and a less distance away from it. This 



200 HOUSES, TEMPLES, AND FOETS, 



was Igoon, the principal place of the Chinese on the Amoor, 
and once possessing considerable power. Originally the fort 
and town of Igoon were on the left bank of the river, four 
miles below the present site. The location was changed in 
1690, and when the new town was founded it grew quite 
rapidly. For a long time it was a sort of Botany Bay for 
Pekin, and its early residents were mostly exiles. At present 
its population is variously estimated from twenty to fifty 
thousand. The Chinese do not give any information on this 
point, and the Russian figures concerning it are based upon 
estimates. 

Igoon was formerly the capital of the Chinese ' Province 
of the Amoor,' but is now destitute of that honor. The seat 
of government was removed about twenty years ago to Sit- 
si-gar. 

As we approached Igoon I could see below it many herds 
of cattle and horses driven by mounted men. There was 
every appearance of agricultural prosperity. It Was near the 
end of harvest, and most of the grain was stacked in the 
fields. Here and there were laborers at work, and I could 
see many people on the bank fronting the river. Around the 
city were groves enclosing the temples which held the shrines 
consecrated to Mongol worship, as the cross is reverenced by 
the followers of the Christian faith. 

The city had a sombre look, as all the houses were black. 
The buildings were of wood plastered with mud, and nearly 
all of one story. Over the temples in the city there were 
flag-staffs, but with no banners hanging from them or on the 
outer walls. The governor's house and the arsenals were 
similarly provided with tall poles rising from the roofs, but 
here as elsewhere no flags were visible. 

Along the beach there were many rafts of logs beside 
numerous boats either drawn on shore or moored to posts or 
stakes. Fishermen and boys were sitting cross-legged near 
the water, and the inattention of several caused their drench- 
ing by our swell. Idle men stood on the bank above the 
beach, nearly all smoking their little brass pipes with appar- 
\ 



AN UNOFFICIAL VISIT. 201 

ent unconcern. Men and women, principally the latter, were 
carrying water from the river in buckets, which they balanced 
from the ends of a neck-yoke. 

We dropped anchor and threw a line that was made fast 
by a young Manjour. On shore we met several residents, 
who greeted us civilly and addressed the captain in Russian. 
Most of the Manjour merchants have learned enough Russian 
to make a general conversation, especially in transacting 
business. 

I was introduced as an American who had come a long dis- 
tance purposely to see Igoon. The governor was absent, so 
that it was not possible to call on him. "We were shown to 
a temple near at hand, a building fifteen feet by thirty, with 
a red curtain at the door and a thick carpet of matting over 
a brick pavement. The altar was veiled, but its covering 
was lifted to allow me to read, if I could, the inscription upon 
it. It stood close to the entrance, like the screen near the 
door of a New York bar-room. There were several pictures 
on the walls, a few idols, and some lanterns painted in gaudy 
colors. Outside there were paintings over the door, some 
representing Chinese landscapes. The windows were of lat- 
tice work, the roof had a dragon's head at each end of the 
ridge, and a mosaic pavement extended like a sidewalk around 
the entire building. 

Our guide, who lived near, invited us to his house. We 
entered it through his office, which contained a table, three 
or four chairs, and a few account books. Out of this we 
walked into a large apartment used for lounging by day and 
sleeping at night. Its principal furniture was a wide divan 
at one side, where the bed clothing of three or four persons 
was rolled into neat bundles. It turned out on inquiry that 
the man lived in two houses, the principal part of his family 
being domiciled several squares away. As time pressed we 
did not stop longer than to thank him for his attention. 

The streets of Igoon reminded me of New York under the 
contract system four or five years ago. We walked through 
one street upon a narrow log fixed in the mud, and steadied 



202 TEAPFIC WITH THE NATIVES. 

ourselves against a high fence. On a larger thoroughfare 
there were some dry spots, but as there were two logs to walk 
upon we balanced very well. Chinese streets rarely have 
sidewalks, and every pedestrian must care for himself the 
best way he can. The rains the week before my visit had 
reduced the public ways to a disagreeable condition. Were 
I to describe the measurement of the Broadway of Igoon, I 
Should say its length was two miles, more or less, its width 
fifty feet, and its depth two feet. 

Our captain carried a sword cane which confused him a 
little as the lower part occasionally stuck in the mud and 
came off. This exposition of weapons he evidently wished 
to avoid. On the principal street I found several stores, and, 
true to the instinct of the American abroad, stopped to buy 
something. The stores had the front open to the street, so 
that one could stand before the counter and make his pur- 
chases without entering. The first store I saw had six or 
seven clerks and very little else, and as I did not wish a 
Chinese clerk I moved to another shop. 

For the articles purchased I paid only five times their ac- 
tual value, as I afterward learned. The merchants and their 
employees appeared to talk Russian quite fluently, and were 
earnest in urging me to buy. One of them imitated the 
tactics of Chatham street, and became very voluble over 
things I did not want. 

Holding up an article he praised its good qualities and 
named its price. 

" Five roubles ; very good ; five roubles." 

I shook my head. 

" Four roubles ; yes ; good ; four roubles." 

Again I made a negation. 

" Three roubles ; very good ; yes." 

I continued shaking my head as lie fell to two and a half, 
two, and finally to one rouble. I left him at that figure, or 
it is possible he would have gone still lower. 

" They are great rascals," said Borasdine as we walked 
away. " They ask ten times the real price and hope to cheat 



VISITING A TARTAR HAREM. 203 

you in some way. It is difficult to buy anything here for its 
actual value." 

We went through more streets and more mud, passing 
butchers' shops where savage dogs growled with that amiable 
tone peculiar to butcher dogs everywhere. We passed tea 
shops, shoe shops, drug stores, and other establishments, each 
with a liberal number of clerks. Labor must be cheap, prof- 
its large, or business brisk, to enable the merchants to main- 
tain so many employees. 

At the end of a long street we came to the guard-house, 
near the entrance of the military quarters. We entered the 
dirty barrack, but saw nothing particularly interesting. I 
attempted to go inside the room where the instruments of 
punishment were kept, but the guard stood in the way and 
would not move. The soldiers in this establishment- had 
evidently partaken of a beverage stronger than tea, as they 
were inclined to too much familiarity. One patted me on 
the shoulder and pressed my hand affectionately, indulging 
the while in snatches of Chinese songs. 

In the prison were two or three unfortunates with their 
feet shackled so as to prevent their stepping more than four 
inches at a time. While we stood there a gaily dressed offi- 
cer rode past us on a magnificent horse, reminding me of an 
American militia hero on training day. We looked at the 
fence of palisades, and stepped under the gateway leading to 
the government quarter. Over the gate was a small room 
like the drawbridge room in a castle of the middle ages. 
Twenty men could be lodged there to throw arrows, hot water, 
or Chinese perfumery on the invading foe. 

A Manjour acquaintance of our captain invited us to visit 
his house. . We entered through the kitchen, where there 
was a man frying a kind of ' twisted doughnut ' in vegetable 
oil. The flour he used was ground in the Manjour mills, and 
lacked the fineness of European or American flour. Judging 
by the quantity of food visible the family must have been a 
large one. 

The head of the household proclaimed himself a Tartar, 



204 FEMININE COSTUMES AT I GO ON. 

and said he was the proprietor of four wives. I smoked a 
cigar with him, and during our interview Borasdine hinted 
that we would like to inspect his harem. After a little de- 
corous hesitation, he led us across an open and muddy court- 
yard to a house where a dozen women were in the confusion 
of preparing and eating supper. With four wives one must 
have a proportionate number of servants and retainers, else 
he cannot maintain ' style.' 

Such a scene of confusion I never saw before in one man's 
family. There were twelve or fifteen children of different 
ages and sexes, and not one silent. Some were at table, 
some quarreling, some going to sleep, and some waking. 
Two women were in serious dispute, and the Tartar words 
poured out freely. The room was hot, stifling, and filled 
with as many odors as the city of Cologne, and we were glad 
to escape into the open air as soon as possible. I did not 
envy that Mongol gentleman his domestic bliss, and am in- 
clined to think he considered it no joke to be as much mar- 
ried as he was. 

I did not see any pretty women at Igoon, but learned after- 
ward that they exist there. The Manjour style of hair-dress- 
ing attracts the eye of a stranger. The men plait the hair 
after the Chinese manner, shaving the fore part of the head. 
The women wind theirs in a peculiar knot, in about the posi- 
tion of the French chignon. They pierce this knot with two 
long pins like knitting needles, and trim it with bright rib- 
bons and real or artificial flowers. The fashion is becoming, 
and, excluding the needles, I would not be surprised to see 
it in vogue in Western civilization within half a dozen years. 

The men wore long blue coats of cotton or silk, generally . 
the former, loose linen trousers, fastened at the kn§e or made 
into leggings, and Chinese shoes or boots of skin. The 
women dress in pantaletts and blue cotton gowns with short, 
loose sleeves, above which they wear at times a silk cape or 
mantle. They have ear rings, bracelets, and finger rings in 
profusion, and frequently display considerable taste in their 
adornment. 



MONGOLIAN PASSENGERS. 



205 



It was nearly sunset when we landed at Igoon, and when 
we finished our visit to the Tartar family the stars were out. 
The delay of the boat was entirely to give me a view of a 
Chinese-Manjour city. Darkness put an end to sight-seeing, 




A CHINESE FAMILY PICTURE. 



and so we hastened to the steamer, followed by a large crowd 
of natives. 

We took three or four Manjour merchants as passengers to 
Blagoveshchensk. One of them spent the evening in our 
cabin, but would neither drink alcoholic beverages nor smoke. 
This appeared rather odd among a people who smoke per- 
sistently and continually. Men, women, and children are 
addicted to the practice, and the amount of tobacco they burn 
is enormous. 



CHAPTEK XVIII. 

AT daylight on the morning after leaving lgoon, we were 
passing the mouth of the Zeya, a river half a mile 
wide, flowing with a strong current. It was along this river 
that the first white men who saw the Amoor found their way. 
It is said to be practicable for steam navigation three or four 
hundred miles from its mouth. At present four or five thou- 
sand peasants are settled along the Zeya, with excellent agri- 
cultural prospects. As I came on deck rubbing my half- 
opened eyes, I saw a well-built town on the Russian shore. 

" Blagoveshchensk," said the steward, as he waved his arm 
in thatfldirection. 

I well knew that the capital of the Province of the Amoor 
was just above the mouth of the Zeya. It stands on a prairie 
fifteen or twenty feet above the river, and when approached 
from the south its appearance is pleasing. The houses are 
large and well built, and each has plenty of space around it. 
Some of them have flower gardens in front, and a public park 
was well advanced toward completion at the time of my ar- 
rival. 

A wharf extended into the river at an angle of forty de- 
grees with the shore. The steamer Korsackoff was moored 
at this wharf, with a barge nearly her own size. The Ingo- 
dah tied to the bank just below the wharf, and was welcomed 
by the usual crowd of soldiers and citizens, with a fair num- 
ber of Manjours from the other bank. 

On landing, I called upon Colonel Pedeshenk, the governor 
of the Province, and delivered my letters of introduction. 
The Colonel invited me to dine with him that day, and stated 

(206) 



DINNER WITH A GOVERNOR. 207 

that several officers of his command would be present. After 
this visit and a few others, I went with Captain Borasdine to 
attend the funeral of the late Major General Bussy. This 
gentleman was five years governor of the Province of the 
Amoor, and resigned in 1866 on account of ill-health. He 
died on his way to St. Petersburg, and the news of his death 
reached Blagoveshchensk three days before my arrival. I 
happened to reach the town on the morning appointed for the 
funeral service. 

The church was crowded, everybody standing, according to 
the custom prevailing in Russia. Colonel Pedeshenk and his 
officers were in full uniform, and almost all present held 
lighted candles. Five or six priests, with an Archbishop, 
conducted the ceremonies. The services consisted of a rit- 
ual, read and intoned by the priests, with chanting by the 
choir of male voices. The Archbishop was in full robes be- 
longing to his position, and his long gray beard and reverend 
face gave him a patriarchal appearance. When the ceremony 
was finished the congregation opened to the right and left to 
permit the governor and officers to pass out first. From be- 
ginning to end the service lasted about an hour. 

Colonel Pedeshenk had been governor but a few months, 
and awaited confirmation in his position. Having served 
long on the staff of General Bussy, he was disposed to follow 
in the footsteps of his "predecessor and carry out his plans for 
developing the resources of his district. 

At the appointed hour I went to dine at the governor's, 
where I found eight or ten officers and the young wife of 
Colonel Pedeshenk. We spent a half-hour on the balcony, 
where there was a charming view of the river and the Chinese 
shore with its background of mountains. The governor's 
house was more like a mansion in a venerable town than in 
a settlement less than ten years old. The reception hall 
would have made a good ball-room anywhere out of the large 
cities. 

The charming young madame did not speak English but 
was fluent in French. She was from Irkutsk, and had spent 



208 A POLYGLOT DOCTOR AND HIS FAMILY. 

several years in the schools and society of St. Petersburg. 
She had many reminiscences of the capital, and declared 
herself delighted with her home on the Amoor. After din- 
ner we retired to the balcony for prosaic tea drinking and a 
poetical study of the glories of an autumn sunset behind the 
hills of Manjouria. 

There was no hotel in the town, and I had wondered where 
I should lodge. Before I had been half an hour on shore, I 
was invited by Dr. Snider, the surgeon in chief of the prov- 
ince, to make my home at his house. The doctor spoke Eng- 
lish fluently, and told me he learned it from a young Ameri- 
can at Ayan several years before. He was ten years in gov- 
ernment service at Ayan, and met there many of my country- 
men. Once he contemplated emigrating to New Bedford at 
the, urgent solicitation of a whaling captain who frequently 
came to the Ohotsk sea. 

Dr. Snider was from the German provinces of Eussia, and 
his wife, a sister of Admiral Fury elm, was born in Sweden. 
They usually conversed in German but addressed their chil- 
dren in Russian. They had a Swedish housemaid who spoke 
her own language in the family and only used Russian when 
she could not do otherwise. Madame Snider told me her 
children spoke Swedish and Russian with ease, and under- 
stood German very well. They intended having a French or 
English governess in course of time. 

" I speak," said the doctor, " German with my wife, Swed- 
ish to the housemaid, Russian to my other servants, French 
with some of the officers, English with occasional travelers, 
and a little Chinese and Manjour with the natives over the 
river." 

Blagoveshchensk has a pretty situation, and I should 
greatly prefer it to Nicolayevsk for permanent habitation. 
In the middle of the Amoor valley and at the mouth of the 
Zeya, its commercial advantages are good and its importance 
increases every year. It was founded in 1858 by General 
Mouravieff, but did not receive any population worthy of men- 
tion until after the treaty of Igoon in 1860. The government 



MUD WALLS AND THATCHED ROOFS. 209 

buildings are large and well constructed, logs being the ma- 
terial in almost universal use for making walls. A large un- 
finished house for the telegraph was pointed out to me, and 
several warehouses were in process of erection. 

Late one afternoon the captain of the steamer Korsackoff 
invited me to visit Sakhalin-Oula-Hotun (city of the black 
river) on the opposite shore. Though called a city it cannot 
justly claim more than two thousand inhabitants. There 
was a crowd on the bank similar to the one at Igoon, most of 
the women and girls standing with their arms folded in their 
sleeves. Several were seated close to the water and met the 
same misfortune as those in similar positions at Igoon. The 
Korsackoff made a much greater swell than the Ingodah, and 
those who caught its effects were well moistened. We landed 
from the steamer's boat and ascended the bank to the village. 
Several fat old Manjours eyed us closely and answered with 
great brevity our various questions. 

Sakhalin-Oula stretches more than a mile along the bank, 
but extends only a few rods back from the river. Practically 
it consists of a single street, which is quite narrow in several 
places. The houses are like those of Igoon, with frames of 
logs and coverings of boards, or with log walls plastered with 
mud. The windows of stores and dwellings are of lattice 
work covered with oiled paper, glass being rarely used. 

The roofs of the buildings were covered with thatch of 
wheat straw several inches thick, that must offer excellent 
facilities for taking fire. Probably the character of this 
thatch accounts for the chimneys rising ten or fifteen feet 
from the buildings. I saw several men arranging one of 
these roofs. On a foundation of poles they laid bundles of 
straw, overlapping them as we overlap shingles, and cutting 
the boards to allow the straw to spread evenly. This kind 
of covering must be renewed every two or three years. Sev- 
eral thatches were very much decayed, and in one of them 
there was a fair growth of grass. The village was embowered 
in trees in contrast to the Russian shore where the only trees 
were those in the park. I endeavored to ascertain the cause 
14 



210 A MONGOLIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE. 

of this difference, but could not. The Russians said there 
was often a variation of three or four degrees in the tempera- 
ture of the two banks, the Chinese one being the milder. 
Timber for both Chinese and Russian use is cut in the forests 
up the Amoor and rafted down. 

Sakhalin-Oula abounded in vegetable gardens, which sup- 
plied the market of Blagoveshchensk. The number of shops 
both there and at Igoon led me to consider the Manjours a 
population of shop-keepers. Dr. Snider said they brought 
him everything for ordinary table use, and would contract to 
furnish at less than the regular price, any article sold by the 
Russian merchants. In their enterprise and mode of dealing 
they were much like the Jews of Europe and America, which 
may account for their being called Manjours. Once a month 
during the full moon they come to Blagoveshchensk and open 
a fair, which continues seven days. They sell flour, buck- 
wheat, beans, poultry, eggs, vegetables, and other edible ar- 
ticles. The Russians usually purchase a month's supply at 
these times, but when they wish anything out of the fair sea- 
son the Manjours are ready to furnish it. 

We walked along a narrow street, less muddy than the 
streets of Igoon, and passed several cattle yards enclosed 
with high fences, like California corrals. In one yard there 
were cattle a,nd horses, so densely packed that they could not 
kick freely. Groups of natives stared at us while smoking 
their little pipes, and doubtless wondered why we came there. 
Several eyed me closely and asked my companions who and 
what I could be. The explanation that I was American con- 
veyed no information, as very few of them ever heard of the 
land of the free and the former home of the slave. 

One large building with a yard in front and an inscription 
over its gate was pointed out as a government office. Several 
employees of the Emperor of China were standing at the 
gateway, all smoking and enjoying the evening air. At a 
hitching post outside the gate there were three saddled horses 
of a breed not unlike the ' Canadian.' The saddles would be 
uncomfortable to an American cavalry officer, though not so 



AN UNCOMFORTABLE CARRIAGE, 



211 



to a Camanche Indian. According to my recollection of our 
equestrian savage I think his saddle is not much unlike the 
Mongolians'. 

Beyond this establishment we entered a yard in front of a 
new and well-built house. Near the door was the traveling 
carriage of the governor of Igoon, who had arrived only an 
hour or two before. The carriage was a two- wheeled affair, 
not long enough to permit one to lie at full length nor high 
enough to sit bolt upright. It had no springs, the frame rest- 
ing fairly 
on the ax- 
les. The 
top was 
rounded 
like that 
of a but- 
cher's cart 
and the 
sides were 
curtained 
with blue 
cloth that 
had little 

windows or peep-holes. I looked behind the curtain and saw 
that the sides and bottom were cushioned to diminish the 
effect of jolting. Two or three small pillows, round and hard, 
evidently served to fill vacancies and wedge the occupant in 
his place. 

The shafts were like those of a ccmmon dray, and the 
driver's position was on a sort of shelf within ten inches of 
the horse's tail. There was room for a postillion on the shelf 
with the driver, the two sitting back to back and their legs 
hanging over the side. The wheel-tires were slightly cogged 
as if made for use in a machine, and altogether the vehicle 
did not impress me as a comfortable one. Being without 
springs it gives the occupant the benefit of all jolting, and 
as the Chinese roads are execrable, I imagine one might feel 




MANJOUR TRAVELING CARRIAGE. 



212 VISITING A MAN JOUR GOVERNOR. 

after a hundred miles in such a conveyance very much as if 
emerging from an encounter with a champion prize-fighter. 

Sometimes the Chinese officials set the wheels of their 
carts very far aft so as to get a little spring from the long 
shafts. Even with this improvement the carriage is uncom- 
fortable, and it is no wonder that the Chinese never travel 
when they can avoid it. 

Entering a hall that led to a larger apartment, we reached 
the presence of the governor of Igoon. He was seated on a 
mat near the edge of a wide divan, his legs crossed like a 
tailor's at his work. He was in a suit of light-colored silk, 
with a conical hat bearing a crystal ball on the top. It is 
generally understood that the grade of a Chinese official may 
be known by the ball he wears on his hat. Thus there are 
red, blue, white, yellow, green, crystal, copper, brass, et cetera, 
according to the rank of the wearer. These balls take the 
place of the shoulder-strap and epaulettes of western civiliza- 
tion, and it must be admitted that they occupy the most con- 
spicuous position one could select. As I am not versed in 
details of the orders of Chinese rank I will not attempt to 
give the military and civil status of my new acquaintance. I 
learned that he was a general in the army, had displayed skill 
and bravery in subduing the rebellion, and been personally 
decorated by the Emperor. 

He was enjoying his pipe and a cup of tea, resting the lat- 
ter on a little table at his side. He was an old man, — of 
how many years I dare not try to guess, — with a thin gray 
beard on his short chin, and a face that might have been worn 
by the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance. I was intro- 
duced as an American who had come to see China, and es- 
pecially the portion bordering on the Amoor. We shook 
hands and I was motioned to a seat at his side on the edge 
of the divan. 

Tea and cigars opened the way to a slow fire of conversa- 
tion. I spoke in French with Borasdine, who rendered my 
words in Russian to the governor's interpreter. The princi- 
pal remarks were that we were mutually enchanted to see 

I 



KUSSIAN-MONGOL EECEPTION. 213 

each other, and that I was delighted at my visit to Igoon and 
Sakhalin-Oula. 

Several officials entered and bowed low before the governor, 
shaking their clenched hands at him during the obeisance. 
One wore a red and another a yellow ball, the first being in 
a black uniform and the second in a white one. The princi- 
pal feature of each uniform was a long coat reaching below 
the knees, with a cape like the capes of our military cloaks. 
Both dresses were of silk, and the material was of excellent 
quality. 

The floor of the room was of clay, beaten smooth and 
cleanly swept. The furniture consisted of the divan before 
mentioned, with two or three rolls of bedding upon it, a Chi- 
nese table, and two Chinese and three Russian chairs. The 
walls were covered with various devices produced from the 
oriental brain ; and an American clock and a French mirror 
showed how the Celestials have become demoralized by com- 
merce with outside barbarians. The odor from the kitchen 
filled the room, and as we thought the governor might be 
waiting for his supper, we bade him good evening and re- 
turned to the boat and the Russian shore. 

During my stay at Blagoveshchensk I was invited to assist 
at a visit made by the governor of Igoon to Colonel Pedesh- 
enk. The latter sent his carriage at the appointed hour to 
bring the Chinese dignitary and his chief of staff. A retinue 
of ten or twelve officers followed on foot, and on entering the 
audience hall they remained standing near the door. The 
greetings and hand-shakings were in the European style, and 
after they were ended the Chinese governor took a seat and 
received his pipe from his pipe-bearer. He wore a plain dress 
of grey silk and a doublet or cape of blue with embroidery 
along the front. He did not wear his decorations, the visit 
being unofficial. 

In addition to the ball on his hat he wore a plume or feather 
that stood in a horizontal position. His chief of staff was 
the most elaborately dressed man of the party, his robes be- 
ing more gaily decorated than the governor's. The members 



214 QUARRELS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA. 

of the staff wore mandarin balls of different colors, and all 
had feathers in their hats. The governor's hair was carefully 
done up, and I suspect his queue was lengthened with black 
silk. 

Conversation was carried on through the Colonel's inter- 
preter, and ran upon various topics. General Bussy's death 
was mentioned in terms of regret, and then followed an in- 
terchange of compliments between the two governors who 
met for the first time. After this the Chinese governor spcke 
of my visit to Sakhalin-Oula, and said I was the first Ameri- 
can he ever met in his province. 

" How did I come from America," he asked, " and how far 
had I traveled to reach Blagoveshchensk ?" 

The interpreter named the distance and said I came to the 
Amoor in a ship connected with the telegraph service. 

" When would the telegraph be finished ?." 

He was told that within two or three years they would pro- 
bably be able to send messages direct to America. 

Then he asked if the railway would not soon follow the 
telegraph. He had never seen either, but understood per- 
fectly their manner of working. He expressed himself pleas- 
ed at the progress of the telegraph enterprise, but did not in- 
timate that China desired anything of the kind. The inter- 
view lasted a,bout an hour, and ended with a leave-taking 
after the European manner. 

There is much complaint among the Russians that the 
treaty of 1860 is not carried out by the Chinese. It is stip- 
ulated that trade shall be free along the entire boundary be- 
tween the two empires, and that merchants can enter either 
country at will. The Chinese merchants are not free to leave 
their own territory and visit Russia, but are subject to various 
annoyances at the hands of their own officials. I was re- 
peatedly informed at Blagoveshchensk that the restrictions 
upon commerce were very serious and in direct violation of 
the stipulations. One gentleman told me : 

" Every Manjour trader that brings anything here pays a 
tax of twenty to fifty per cent, for permission to cross the 



CORRUPTIONS OF THE POLICE. 215 

river. We pay now a third more for what we purchase than 
when we first settled here. The merchants complain of the 
restriction, and sometimes, though rarely, manage to evade 
it. Occasionally a Manjour comes to me offering an article 
twenty or thirty per cent, below his usual price, explaining 
that he smuggled it and requesting me not to expose him." 
• I asked if the taxation was made by the Chinese govern- 
ment, and was answered in the negative. 

" The police of Igoon and Sakhalin-Oula regulate the whole 
matter. It is purely a black-mail system, and the merchant 
who refuses to pay will be thrown into prison on some frivol- 
ous charge. The police master of Igoon has a small salary, 
but has grown very wealthy in a few years. The Russian and 
Chinese governors have considered the affair several times, 
but accomplish nothing. On such occasions the Chinese gov- 
ernor summons his police-master and asks him if there is any 
truth in the charges of the corruption of his subordinates. 
Of course he declares everything correct, and there the mat- 
ter ends." 

How history repeats itself ! Compare this with the con- 
duct of certain Treasury officials along the Mississippi during 
our late war. The cases were exactly parallel. The govern- 
ment scandalized, trade restricted, and merchants plundered, 
to fill the pockets of rapacious officers ! I began to think the 
Mongol more like the Anglo-Saxon than ethnologists believe, 
and found an additional argument for the unity of the human 
race. 

If I knew the Emperor of China I should counsel him to 
open his oblique eyes. If he does not he may find the con- 
duct of the Igoon police a serious affair for his dominions. 
Russia, like Oliver Twist, desires more. When the oppor- 
tunity comes she will quietly take possession of Manjouria 
and hold both banks of the Amoor. If the treaty of 1860 
continues to be violated the Governor General of Eastern 
Siberia will have an excellent excuse for taking the district 
of Igoon and all it contains under his powerful protection. 

On the day I reached Blagoveshchensk I saw an emigrant 



216 AN EASTWARD STAR. 

camp near the town. The emigrants had just landed from 
the rafts with which they descended the Amoor. They came 
from Astrachan, near the mouth of the Volga, more than five 
thousand miles away, and had been two years on their trav- 
els. They came with wagons to the head waters of the 
Amoor, and there built rafts, on which they loaded every- 
thing, including wagons and teams, and floated to their des- 
tination. I did not find their wagons as convenient as our 
own, though doubtless they are better adapted to the road. 

The Eussian wagon had a semi-circular body, as if a long 
hogshead were divided lengthwise and the half of it mounted 
on wheels, with the open part uppermost. There was a cov- 
ering of coarse cloth over a light framework, lower and less 
wide than our army wagons. Household goods fill the wag- 
ons, and the emigrants walk for the most part during all their 
land journey. 

I spent a few minutes at the camp near the town, and found 
the picture much like what I saw years ago beyond the Mis- 
sissippi. Men were busy with their cattle and securing them 
for the night ; one boy was bringing water from the river, 
and another gathering fuel for the fire ; a young woman was 
preparing supper, and an older one endeavored, under shelter 
of the wagon-cover, to put a crying child to sleep. 

Westward our star of empire takes its way. Russian em- 
igration presses eastward, and seeks the rising, as ours the 
setting sun. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

DURING my stay at Blagoveshchensk the governor in- 
vited me to assist at a gazelle hunt. 

At nine o'clock on the day appointed we assembled at the 
house of the chief of staff. I breakfasted before going there, 
but it was necessary to discuss the coming hunt over a second 
breakfast. Six or eight ladies were of the party, and the 
affair had the general appearance of a picnic. The governor 
seated me in his carriage at the side of Madame Pedeshenk, 
and we led the company to the field of expected slaughter. 

With four horses abreast, — two attached to a pole and two 
outside, — we dashed over an excellent road leading back from 
the town. There were three other carriages and two or three 
common wagons, in which the occupants rode on bundles of 
hay. There was a little vehicle on two wheels, — a sort of 
light gig with a seat for only one person, — driven by a lady. 
Five or six officers were on horseback, and we had a detach- 
ment of twenty mounted Cossacks to ' beat the bush.' Ex- 
cluding the Cossacks and drivers, there were about thirty 
persons in the party. A mysterious wagon laden with boxes 
and kegs composed the baggage train. The governor ex- 
plained that this wagon contained the ammunition for the 
hunters. No gazelle could have looked upon those kegs and 
boxes without trembling in his boots. 

A range of low hills six miles from town was the spot se- 
lected for the hunt. There were nine armed men to be sta- 
tioned across this range within shooting distance of each 
other. The Cossacks were to make a circuitous route and 
come upon the hills two or three miles away, where, forming 

(217) 



218 



HUNTING THE GAZELLE. 




THE AMMUNITION WAGON. 



a long line and making much noise, they would advance in 
our direction. . Any game that happened in the way would 
be driven to us. We were to stand our ground with firmness 
and shoot any gazelle that attacked us. I determined to fight 
it out on that line. 

The road from Blagoveshchensk led over a birch-covered 
plain to the bank of the Zeya, four miles away. We passed 

on the right a 
small mill, which 
was to be replac- 
ed in the follow- 
ing year by a 
steam flouring 
establishment, 
the first on the 
A m o o r. n 
r e a c h i n g the 
Zeya I found a 
village named 
Astrachanka, in honor of Astrachan at the mouth of the 
Volga. The settlers had lived there three or four years, and 
were succeeding well in agriculture. They were of the class 
known as German Mennonites, who settled on the steppes of 
Southern Russia at the commencement, of the present cen- 
tury. They are members of the Lutheran church, and famed 
for their industry and their care in managing their flocks and 
fields. The governor praised them warmly, and expressed 
the kindest hopes for their prosperity. 

We left the road near the village and passed through a 
field in the direction of the hunting ground. Two men were 
at work with a yoke of oxen and a plough, whose beam rested 
on the axle of a pair of wheels. The yoke was like the one 
in use everywhere along the Amoor, and was made of two 
pieces of thick plank, one above and the other below the 
animals' necks, with wooden pins to join them and bear the 
strain. The plough was quite primitive and did not stir the 
soil like an American or English plough. 



CHANGING BASE FOR A LUNCH. 219 

At the hunting ground we alighted and took our stations. 
The governor stood under a small oak, and the ladies rested 
on the grass near him. I went to the next post up the hol- 
low, and the other hunters completed the line. Dr. Snider 
went to aid me in taking 

" a dear gazelle, 
To glad me with its soft black eye." 

He was armed with a cigar, while I had a double-barreled 
gun, loaded at (not to) the muzzle. 

The Cossacks went to rouse the game, but their first drive 
resulted in nothing beyond a prodigious noise. When they 
started for the second drive I followed the doctor in a tem- 
porary visit to the ladies. During this absence from duty a 
large gazelle passed within ten steps of my station. I ran 
toward my post, but was not as nimble as the frightened deer. 

" Tirez" commanded the governor. 

" Fire," shouted the doctor. 

And I obeyed the double injunction. The distance was 
great and the animal not stationary. I fired, and the gov- 
ernor fired, but the only effect was to quicken the speed of 
our game. I never knew a gazelle to run faster. Three 
weeks later I saw a beast greatly resembling him running on 
a meadow a thousand miles from Blagoveshchensk. Whether 
it was the same or another I will not attempt to say. 

A' few minutes after this failure the horn of the hunter was 
heard on the hill, and two gazelles passed the line, but no 
game was secured. The governor proposed a change of base, 
and led us where the mysterious wagon had halted. The 
1 ammunition ' was revealed. There were carpets and cloths 
on the grass, plates, knives and forks, edibles in variety, wine, 
ale, and other liquids, and the samovar steaming merrily at 
our side. I think we acquitted ourselves better at this part 
of the hunt than at any other. The picnic did not differ 
much from an American one, the most noticeable feature be- 
ing the substantial character of solids and liquids. Most of 



220 RETURN FROM THE HUNT. 

us sat on the grass and stumps, the number of camp-stools 
not exceeding half a dozen. 

Finishing the lunch we took a new hunting spot and man- 
aged to kill a gazelle and a large hare. A fourth drive 
brought no game, and we returned to enjoy another lunch 
and drink a Russian beverage called ' jonca.' In its prepara- 
tion a pound or two of loaf sugar in a single lump is fixed 
on a wire frame above a copper pan. A bottle of cognac is 
poured over the sugar and set on fire. The sugar melts, and 
when the fire is almost extinguished a bottle of claret and 
one of champagne are added. The compound is taken hot, 
and has a sweet and very smooth taste. The Russians are 
fond of producing this beverage when they have foreign 
guests, and if taken freely it has a weakening tendency. 
The captain of the Variag told me he had placed several 
British officers under his table by employing this article, and 
there was a rumor that the Fox embassy to St. Petersburg 
was quite severely laid out by means of ' jonca.' 

The lunch finished we discharged our guns and returned 
to town at a rapid pace. While descending the bank of a 
brook our horses turned suddenly and nearly overset the car- 
riage. The doctor and I jumped out to lighten the lower 
side, and were just in season to keep the wheels on the 
ground. Madame Pedeshenk followed into the arms of the 
strong doctor, but the governor, true to the martial instinct, 
remained in his place and gave instructions to the driver. 
We did not re-enter the carriage until it was across the brook ; 
the horses were exercised rather violently during the remain- 
der of the journey. 

I think the gazelle we killed was identical with the antelope 
of our western plains. He had a skin of the same color and 
a white tail, that retreating flag-of-truce so familiar to our 
overland emigrants. His feet, head, and body were shaped 
like the antelope's, and his eye had that liquid tenderness so 
often observed in the agile rover near the foot of the Rocky 
Mountains. Gazelles abound through the Amoor valley to 
within a hundred miles of the sea-coast. Many are killed 



DEPARTURE UP THE RIVER. 221 

every autumn and winter in the valley of the Zeya and along 
the middle Amoor. The flesh is eaten and the skin used for 
winter coats and similar articles. 

The commerce of Blagoveshchensk is in the hands of half 
a dozen merchants, one French, one German, and the rest 
Russian. The Amoor company before its affairs were ended 
kept there one of its principal stores, which was bought, with 
stock and good will, by the company's clerk. The wants of 
the officers, soldiers, and civilians in the town and its vicinity 
are sufficient to create a good local trade. Prices are high, 
nearly double those of Nicolayevsk, and the stocks of goods 
on hand are neither large nor well selected. Officers com- 
plained to me of combinations among the merchants to main- 
tain prices at an exorbitant scale. 

I staid four days at Blagoveshchensk, and as the season 
was growing late was quite anxious to depart. The days 
were charming, corresponding to our Indian Summer, and 
the nights cool and frosty. The passenger on our steamer 
from Igoon said ice would be running in the river in twenty- 
five days unless the season should be unusually mild. Rus- 
sians and Chinese were preparing for cold weather, and I 
wished to do the same farther westward. Borascline con- 
templated a land journey in case we were delayed more than 
five days. The Korsackoff was the only steamer to ascend 
the river, and she was waiting for the Constantine to bring 
her a barge. On the evening of the 5th October the governor 
informed me the Korsackoff would start on the next day, 
barge or no barge. This was cheering, and I celebrated the 
occasion by boiling myself in a Russian bath. 

I look upon the bath as one of the blessings of Russia. 
At the end of a journey, when one is sore and stiff in the 
joints, it is an effectual medicine. After it the patient sleeps 
soundly, and rises in the morning thoroughly invigorated. 
Too much bathing deadens the complexion and enfeebles the 
body, but a judicious amount is beneficial. It is the Russian 
custom, not always observed, to bathe once a week. The in- 
jury from the bath is in consequence of too high temperature 



222 TAKING A RUSSIAN BATH. 

of steam and water, causing a severe shock to the system. 
Taken properly the bath has no bad effects, and will cure 
rheumatism, some forms of neuralgia, and several other 
acute diseases. 

The bath-house is a building of two, and generally three, 
rooms. In the outer room you undress, and your chelaveJc, 
or servant, does the same. If there is but another room you 
are led directly into it, and find a hot fire in a large stove. 
There is a cauldron of hot water and a barrel of cold water 
close at hand. The tools of the operator are a bucket, two 
or three basins, a bar of soap, a switch of birch boughs, and 
a bunch of matting. If there are three apartments the sec- 
ond is only an ante-room, not very warm and calculated to 
prepare you for the last and hottest of all. 

The chelavek begins by throwing a bucket of warm water 
over you. He follows this with another, and then a third, 
fourth, and fifth, each a little warmer than its predecessor. 
On one side of the room is a series of benches like a terrace 
or flight of large steps. You are -placed horizontally on a 
bench, and with warm water, soap, and bunch of matting the 
servant scrubs you from head to foot with a manipulation 
more thorough than gentle. The temperature of the room 
is usually about 110° Fahrenheit, but it may be more or less. 
It induces vigorous perspiration, and sets the blood glowing 
and tingling, but it never melts the flesh nor breaks the 
smallest blood vessel. The finishing touch is to ascend the 
platform near the ceiling and allow the servant to throw 
water upon hot stones from the furnace. There is always 
a cloud of steam filling the room and making objects indis- 
tinct. You easily become accustomed to the ordinary heat, 
but when water is dropped upon the stones there is a rush of 
blistering steam. It catches you on the platform and you 
think how unfortunate is a lobster when he goes to pot and 
exchanges his green for scarlet. 

I declined this coup de grace after a single experience. To 
my view it is the objectionable feature of the Russian bath. 
I was always content after that to retire before the last course, 



ARRIVAL OF THE CONSTANTINE 



223 



and only went about half way up the terrace. The birchen 
switch is to whip the patient during the washing process, but 
is not applied with unpleasant force. To finish the bath you 
are drenched with several buckets of water descending from 
hot to cold, but not, as some declare, terminating with ice 
water. This little fiction is to amuse the credulous, and 
would be ' important if true.' Men have sometimes rushed 

from the bath into a 
snow bank, but the 
occurrence is unus- 
ual. Sometimes the 
peasants leave the 
bath for a swim in 
the river, but they 
only do so in mild 
eather. In all the cities there are 
public bath rooms, where men are 
steamed, polished, and washed in 
large numbers. In bathing the Rus- 
sians are more gregarious than Eng- 
lish or Americans. A Russian would 
think no more of bathing with several others than of dining 
at a hotel table. Nearly every private house has its bath 
room, and its frequent use can hardly fail to be noticed by 
travelers. 

On the morning of the 6th the Constantine arrived, having 
left the Korsackoff 's barge hard aground below Igoon. So 
we were to start unencumbered. I took my baggage to the 
Korsackoff, and was obliged to traverse two barges before I 
reached the boat. Twelve o'clock was the hour appointed 
for our departure, and at eleven the fires were burning in the 
furnaces. A hundred men were transferring freight from the 
Constantine to the Korsackoff, and made a busy scene. Four 
men carrying a box of muskets ran against me on a narrow 
plank, and had not my good friend the doctor seized me I 
should have plunged headlong into the river. The hey-day 




FINISHING TOUCH. 



224 GEAPES AND GOOD-BYE. 

in my blood was tame ; I had no desire to fall into V Amour 
at that season. 

At eleven there came an invitation to lunch with the gov- 
ernor at two. " How is this ? " I said to the doctor ; " start 
at twelve and lunch here two hours later ! " Smiling the 
doctor replied : 

" I see you have not yet learned our customs. The gov- 
ernor is the autocrat, and though the captain positively de- 
clares he will start at noon you need not be uneasy. He will 
not go till you are on board, and very likely you will meet 
him at lunch." 

At two o'clock I was at the governor's, where I found the 
anxious captain. When our lunch was finished Madame Pe- 
deshenk gave me some wild grapes of native production. 
They were about the size of peas, and quite acid in taste. 
With cultivation they might be larger and better flavored, 
just as many of our American grapes have improved in the 
past twenty years. Some of the hardier grapes might be 
successfully grown on the middle Amoor, but the cold is too 
long and severe for tender vines. Attached to his dwelling 
the governor has a hot-house that forms a pleasant retreat in 
winter. He hopes to introduce vines and raise hot-house 
grapes in Siberia within a few years. 

I walked to the boat with Doctor and Madame Snider, our 
promenade being enlivened by a runaway horse that came 
near dragging a cart over us. The governor and his lady 
were there, with nearly all the officers, and after saying adieu 
I stepped on board, and we left the pier. We waved kerchiefs 
again and again as long as waves could be seen. 

There was a cabin on the Korsackoff about eight feet square, 
with four small rooms opening out of it. Borasdine and I 
had two of these. My apartment had two bunks and no bed- 
ding, but the deficiency was atoned for by a large number of 
hungry and industrious fleas. Of my blankets and pillow I 
made my own bed, and slept in it as on the Ingodah. My 
only chair was a camp stool I carried from San Francisco 



AN INTOXICATED PEIEST. 225 

with the design of giving it away on reaching the end of my 
water travel. 

Going on board the steamer I met a drunken priest en- 
deavoring to walk to the pier, and in the cabin I found an- 
other lying on a sofa, and, as I supposed, very ill. Borasdine 
observed my look of compassion, and indicated by signs the 
cause of the malady. The priest going ashore had been say- 
ing farewell to the one on board, and their partings were 
such as press the life from out young hearts and bottles. 
Our holy passenger did not feel himself again until the next 
day. 

There are many good men among the priests of the East- 
ern church in Siberia, but it must also be admitted there are 
many bad ones. In a country where the clergy wields as 
great power as in Russia the authorities should take care that 
the representatives of the church set a good example. The 
intemperance so prevalent among the peasantry is partly due 
to the debaucheries of the priesthood. Where the people 
follow their religious leaders with blind faith and obey their 
commands in all the forms of worship, are they not in danger 
of following the example of drunkenness ? Russian officers 
frequently spoke of the condition of the church in Eastern 
Siberia, and declared with emphasis that it needed reforma- 
tion. " Our priests," said one, " have carried our religion 
wherever our armies have carried conquest, and their efforts 
to advance Christianity deserve all praise. But abuses exist 
and have grown up, and the whole system needs to be ar- 
ranged anew." 

We had much freight on board, consisting chiefly of mus- 
kets for the province of the Trans-Baikal. There were many 
passengers that lived literally on deck. They were aft of the 
engines and above our cabin. On deck we had the forward 
part of the boat as on the Ingodah. The deck passengers 
were soldiers, and Cossacks in their long grey coats, and 
peasants of all ages in garments of sheepskin. There were 
women with infants, and women without infants, the former 
being the more numerous. They were on deck day and night, 
15 



226 SHORT OF FUEL. 

unless when opportunity offered to go on shore. They did 
their cooking at the galley or at a stove near the stern of the 
boat. They never made any noise or disturbance, beyond 
the usual confusion where many persons are confined in a 
small space. 

There were three horses tied just over my cabin with only 
a single plank between their heels and my head. Nearly 
every night their horse polkas and galops disturbed my sleep. 
Sometimes early in the morning, when the frost was biting, 
they would have kicking matches of twenty or thirty minutes, 
conducted with the greatest vigor. The temporary stable 
was close to the cabin skylight, so that we had the odors of 
a barn-yard without extra charge. This would have been 
objectionable under other circumstances, but the cabin was 
so dirty that one could not be fastidious about trifles. 

The captain had a neat cabin of his own on the upper deck, 
and did not trouble himself much about the quarters of his 
passengers, as the regulations do not require him to look after 
their welfare. He was a careful commander and prompt in 
discharging his duties. By law steamboat captains cannot 
carry their wives on board. This officer had a little arrange- 
ment by which he was able to keep the word of promise to 
the ear and break it to the hope. 

We were short of fuel at starting, and barely escaped trou- 
ble in consequence. The first pile visible contained only a 
cord or two ; we took this and several posts that had been fixed 
in the ground to mark the locality. When this supply was 
burned we cut up our landing planks and all the spare bits 
of wood we could find. A court of inquiry was held over 
the horse-troughs, but they were, considered too much water- 
soaked for our purpose. As a last resort I had a pound of 
candles and a flask of brandy, but we happily reached a wood- 
station without using my light baggage. 

The Korsackoff was an iron boat of a hundred horse power, 
with hull and engines of English make. Her cabins were 
very small and as dirty as diminutive. There was no cabin 
steward, and I sincerely believe there had never been one. 



A FRAGMENT OP SCENERY. 227 

We were warned of this before leaving Blagoveshchensk, and 
by way of precaution purchased enough bread, pickles, cheese, 
mustard, preserves, candles, etc., to stock a modest grocery. 
We bought eggs at the landings, and arranged for the samo- 
var every morning. We engaged a Cossack passenger as 
our servant for the voyage, and when we wished our eggs 
boiled we sent him with them to the cook. Of course we had 
an arrangement with the latter functionary. Our next move 
was to make terms with the captain's steward for a dinner 
at the hour when he fed his chief. Our negociations required 
much diplomacy, but our existence depended upon it, and 
what will not man accomplish when he wants bread and 
meat? 

We spread our table in one of our rooms. For breakfast 
we took tea and boiled eggs, and for dinner we had cabbage 
soup, roast beef or fowl, and cutlets. The cook succeeded 
very well, and as our appetites were pretty sharp we voted 
the dinners a success. We used our own bread, tea, pickles, 
and preserves, employing the latter as a concluding dish. 
Our Cossack was not very skillful at housework, and made 
many blunders in serving. Frequently he brought the soup 
tureen before arranging the table, and it took him some time 
to learn the disadvantage of this practice. 

Leaving Blagoveshchensk the country continued level near 
the river, but the mountains gradually approached it and on 
the south bank they came to the water fifteen or twenty miles 
above Sakhalin-Oula. On the north the plain was wider, but 
it terminated about forty miles above Blagoveshchensk, — a 
series of low hills taking its place. The first day we ran 
twenty-five or thirty versts before sunset. The river was less 
than a mile wide, and the volume of water sensibly dimin- 
ished above the Zeya. As the hills approached the river they 
assumed the form of bluffs or headlands, with plateaus ex- 
tending back from their summits. The scenery reminded me 
of Lake Pepin and the region just above it. On the north- 
ern shore, between these bluffs and the river, there was an 
occasional strip of meadow that afforded clinging room to a 



228 THE DOVE A SACRED BIRD. 

Russian village. At two or three settlements there was an 
abundance of hay and grain in stacks, and droves of well 
fed cattle, that indicated the favorable character of the 
country. 

At most villages along the Amoor I found the crow and 
magpie abundant and very tame. At Blagoveshchensk sev- 
eral of these birds amused me in sharing the dinner of some 
hogs to the great disgust of the latter. When the meal was 
finished they lighted on the backs of the hogs and would not 
dismount until the latter rolled in the dirt. No one appears 
to think them worth shooting, and I presume they do no 
damage. 

One day walking on shore I saw a flock of pigeons, and re- 
turned to the boat for Borasdine's gun. As I took it I re- 
marked that I would shoot a few pigeons for dinner. 

"Never think of it," said my friend. 

"And why?" 

" Because you will make the peasants your enemies. The 
news would spread that you had killed a pigeon, and every 
peasant would dislike you." 

" For what reason ? " 

" The pigeon or dove is held sacred throughout Russia. 
He is the living symbol of the Holy Spirit in the faith of the 
Eastern church, and he brought the olive branch to The Ark 
when the flood had ceased. No Russian would harm one of 
these birds, and for you to do so would show disrespect to the 
religion of the country." 

I went on shore again, but without a gun. 

Every day we saw rafts moving with the stream or tied 
along the shore. They were of logs cut on the upper Amoor, . 
and firmly fastened with poles and withes. An emigrant piles 
his wagon and household goods on a raft, and makes a pen 
at one side to hold his cattle. Two or three families, with as 
many wagons and a dozen or twenty animals, were frequently 
on one raft. A pile of earth was the fire place, and there 
was generally a tent or shelter of some kind. Cattle were 



EAPTS ON THE AMOOE. 



229 




EMIGRANTS ON THE AMOOE. 



fed with hay carried on board, or were turned ashore at night 
to graze. 

Some rafts were entirely laden with cattle on their way to 
market or for government use at Nicolayevsk. This is the 
most eco- 
nomical 
mode of 
transpor- 
tation, a s 
the cattle 
feed them- 
selves o n 
shore at 
night, and 
the rafts 
float with 
the c u r- 
r e nt by 

day. A great deal of heavy freight has been carried down 
the Amoor in this way, and losses are of rare occurrence. 
The system is quite analogous to the flat-boat navigation of 
the Mississippi before steamboats were established. We met 
a few Russian boats floating or propelled by oars, one of them 
having a crew of six Cossacks and making all haste in de- 
scending. We supposed it contained the mail due at Blago- 
veshchensk when we left. The government has not enough 
steamers to perform its service regularly, and frequently uses 
row boats. The last mail at Blagoveshchensk before my ar- 
rival came in a rowboat in fifteen days from Stratensk. 

Ascending the river we made slow progress even without a 
barge. Our machinery was out of order and we only carried 
half steam. We ran only by day, and unfortunately the 
nights had a majority of the time. We frequently took wood 
in the middle of the day, and on such occasions lost from 
one to three hours. Our average progress was about sixty 
miles a day. I could not help contrasting this with journeys 
I have made on the Mississippi at the rate of two hundred 



230 A CHINESE FRONTIER POST. 

miles in twenty-four hours. A government boat has no oc- 
casion to hurry like a private one, and the pilot's imperfect 
knowledge of the Amoor operates against rapidity. In time 
I presume the Siberian boats will increase their speed. 

The second day from Blagoveshchensk we were where the 
Amoor flows twenty-five versts around a peninsula only one 
verst wide. Just above this, at the village of Korsackoff, was 
the foot of another bend of twenty-eight versts with a width 
of three. Borasdine and I proposed walking and hunting 
across the last neck of land, but the lateness of the hour for- 
bade the excursion, as we did not wish to pass the night on 
shore, and it was doubtful if the boat could double the point 
before dark. We should have crossed the first peninsula had 
it not been in Chinese territory. To prevent possible intru- 
sion the Celestials have a guard-house at the bend. 

At the guard-house we could see half a dozen soldiers with 
matchlocks and lances. There was a low house fifteen or 
twenty feet square and daubed with mud according to the 
Chinese custom. There was a quantity of rubbish on the 
ground, and a couple of horses were standing ready saddled 
near it. Fifty feet from the house was a building like a sen- 
try-box, with two flag-staffs before it ; it was the temple where 
the soldiers worshipped according to the ceremonies of their 
faith. I have been much with the army in my own country, 
but never saw a military post of two buildings where one 
structure was a chapel. 

Above the village of Kazakavitch, at the upper extremity 
of the bend, there was some picturesque scenery. On one 
side there were precipitous cliffs two or three hundred feet 
high, and on the other a meadow or plateau with hills in the 
background. The villages on this part of the river are gen- 
erally built twenty or thirty feet above high water mark. 
They have the same military precision that is observed below 
the Zeya, and each has a bath house set in the bank. Fre- 
quently we found these bath houses in operation, and on one 
occasion two boys came out clad in the elegant costume of 
the Greek Slave, without her fetters. They gazed at the boat 



SCARCITY OF WATER FOR DRINKING. 231 

with perfect sang froid, the thermometer being just above 
freezing point. The scene reminded me of the careless man- 
ners of the natives at Panama. 

Opposite Komarskoi the cliffs on the Chinese shore are 
perpendicular, and continue so for several miles. At their 
base there is a strong current, where we met a raft descend- 
ing nearly five miles an hour. In going against the stream 
our pilots did not seek the edge of the river like their breth- 
ren of the Mississippi, but faced the current in the center. 
Possibly they thought a middle course the safest, and remem- 
bered the fate of the celebrated youth who took a short route 
when he drove the sun. 

Two miles above the settlement is Cape Komara, a perpen- 
dicular or slightly overhanging rock of dark granite three 
hundred feet high. Nothing but a worm or an insect could 
climb its face, and a fall from its top into the river would not 
be desirable. The Russians have erected a large cross upon 
the summit, visible for some distance up and down the river. 
Above this rock, which appears like a sentinel, the valley is 
wider and the stream flows among many islands. 

We saw just below this rock a Manjour boat tied to the 
shore, the crew breakfasting near a fire and the captain smok- 
ing in apparent unconcern at a little distance. On the oppo- 
site bank there was a Chinese custom-house and military sta- 
tion. It had the same kind of house and temple and the 
same number of men and horses as the post farther down. 
Had it possessed a pile of rubbish and a barking dog the 
similarity would have been complete. 

There is abundance of water in the Amoor except for drink- 
ing purposes. I was obliged to adopt the plan of towing a 
bottle out of the cabin window till it filled. The deck pas- 
sengers used to look with wonder on my foreign invention, 
and doubtless supposed I was experimenting for scientific 
purposes. I have heard of a captain on the Ohio who forbade 
water to his passengers on account of the low stage of the 
river. Possibly the Russian captains are fearful that too 
much use of water may affect navigation in future years. 



CHAPTER XX. 



THERE is a sameness and yet a variety in the scenery of 
the Amoor two or three hundred miles above Komar- 
skoi. The sameness is' in the general outlines which can be 
described ; the variety is in the many little details of dis- 
tance, shadow, and coloring, which no pen can picture. In 
the general features there are cliffs, hills, ravines, islands, 
and occasional meadows, with forests of birch, pine, larch, 
and willow. The meadows are not abundant, and the attrac- 
tions to settlers generally small. Tile hills are rugged and, 
though well timbered, not adapted to agriculture. The pine 
forests are dark and gloomy, and the leafless birches make 
the distant hills appear as if thinly snow-clad. The willows 
are generally upon the islands, and grow with great luxuri- 
ance. The large meadows are occupied by Russian settlers. 

Many little streams enter the Amoor on both sides, but 
chiefly from the north. There is a famous cliff called Sa-ga- 
yan, where the river has washed and undermined the high 
bank so that portions fall away every few years. The cur- 
rent strikes this hill with great force, and where it is reflected 
the water is broken like the rapids above Niagara. It is a 
dangerous spot for small boats, and very difficult for them to 
ascend. When the expedition of 1854 descended the Amoor 
several barges were drawn into an eddy at this cliff and 
nearly swamped. Captain Fulyelm and Mr. Collins, in 1857, 
were in danger and trouble, especially where the current re- 
bounds from the shore. 

When our steamer struck this rapid it required all the 
strength of our engines to carry us through. I desired to 

(232) 



THE SA-GA-YAN CLIFF. 



233 



examine the shore, but had no opportunity. Mr. Collins 
found the bank composed of amygdaloid sand, decomposed 
rock and sandstone, with many traces of iron. On the beach 
were chalcedony, cornelian, and agate. Two veins of coal 
have been traced in the cliff, and it is thought a large deposit 




SA-GA-YAN CLIFF. 



exists there. The natives have a story that the cliff smokes 
whenever a human being approaches it, but I saw no indica- 
tions of smoke as I passed. They consider it the abode of 
evil spirits, and hold it in great dread. 

The Russians told me that a few wreaths of smoke were 
visible in summer, caused probably by the decomposition of 
several coal seams on the upper side of the mountain. 

Up to the present time no coal has been mined along the 
Amoor, though enough is known to exist. The cheapness 
and abundance of wood will render coal of little importance 
for many years to come. Nicolayevsk is supplied with coal 
from Sakhalin Island, where it is abundant and easily worked. 
Iron ore has been discovered on the upper Amoor and in the 
Buryea Mountains. Captain Anossoff proposes to erect a 
smelting establishment at Blagoveshchensk, supplying it with 



234 PUBLIC AND PRIVATE ENTERPRISE. 

iron ore from the Buryea region and with coal from the Zeya. 
Copper and silver exist in several localities, but the veins 
have not been thoroughly examined. The mountains are like 
those in the Nerchinsk district that have yielded so richly in 
precious metals. 

Captain Anossoff is the brother of my companion across 
the Pacific, and has seen ten years service in Eastern Siberia. 
Most of that time he has passed on the Amoor and its tribu- 
tary streams. In many places he found rich deposits of gold, 
the last and best being on the Oldoi river, about a hundred 
miles north of Albazin. A ton of earth yielded six hundred 
dollars worth of gold. I saw the specimens which the cap- 
tain took out in person. The gold was like the best gulch or 
scale gold in California, with nuggets up to four or five ounces 
in weight. 

Gold has been found in other localities. On several tribu- 
taries of the Ousuree the Chinese have conducted washings 
for many years. The Russian settlers near Posyet find gold 
in the streams flowing into the sea. An engineer officer as- 
sured me the washings in that region could be made profit- 
able. 

The government has recently opened the Amoor and its 
tributaries to private enterprise and invited its citizens to 
search for gold where they please. This is a concession in 
the right way, and partially abandons the claim hitherto en- 
forced that all mines belong to the Imperial family. Some 
of the surveys of Captain Anossoff have been for private par- 
ties at St. Petersburg, and the development of the mineral 
resources of the Amoor is confidently expected in a few years. 
At present the lack of laborers and machinery is a great 
drawback, but as the country grows older the mining facilities 
will increase. It is not impossible that a gold fever will 
sometime arise on the Amoor and extend to America. 

Much of the country I saw along the Amoor resembles the 
gold-bearing regions on the Pacific coast. "While we were 
taking wood at a village above Sa-ga-yan I walked on shore 
and stopped at a little brook flowing from the hills. Care- 



INTERVIEW WITH A MANAGRE. 235 

lessly digging with a stick in the bottom of this brook I 
brought up some black sand, which I washed on a piece of 
bark. The washing left two or three shining particles that 
had every appearance of gold. I wrapped them in a leaf to 
carry on board the steamer, but as I afterward lost envelope 
and contents, the value of my discovery is to this day un- 
known. 

The original inhabitants along this part of the Amoor are 
wandering Tungusians, in no great number and with little 
wealth. We saw their huts on both banks, principally the 
southern one. At a Russian village where we stopped there 
was a Managre hut or yourt of light poles covered with birch 
bark. The covering was wound around the framework in 
horizontal strips that overlapped at the edges like shingles on 
a house-roof. Entering the hut I found a varied assortment 
of deer skins, cooking and other utensils, dogs, dirt, and 
children. I gave a small coin to one of the latter, and was 
immediately surrounded by others who wished to be remem- 
bered. The mother of the infants sent one of them to me 
with a freshly killed goose, which I declined accepting. 

The head of the establishment examined my watch atten- 
tively, but I think his curiosity was simulated, as he must 
have seen many watches among the Russians. Not to be out- 
done in curiosity, I admired the trappings attached to his 
belt. These were a knife, a pipe, pouches for bullets, tinder, 
powder, tobacco, and flints, a pointed iron for cleaning a pipe, 
and two or three articles whose use I could not ascertain. 
His dress was a deerskin frock and leggings, and his cap of 
Chinese felt cloth was in several thicknesses and fitted close 
to his head. 

Outside the hut Borasdine gave the man a cigar, but the 
gift was not appreciated. The native preferred tobacco and 
was better satisfied when I gave him enough to fill his pipe. 
The Managres smoke the Manjourian tobacco, which is raised 
in large quantities along the middle Amoor and the Songaree. 
It is much like Connecticut leaf, but has a more pungent 



236 



A PRIMITIVE RIFLE. 




flavor, and lacks the delicacy of Havana tobacco. Men, wo- 
men, and children are alike addicted to its use. 

Our new acquaintance was a hunter, and allowed us, though 
with hesitation, to look at his rifle. It had a flint lock of 
curious construction, the hammer being drawn back to a hori- 
zontal position and held in place by a notched piece of bone. 
The breech-pin was gone, and a piece of stone fixed in the 
stock filled its place. The breech of the stock was but little 
larger than the other part, and seemed very awkwardly con- 
trived. A forked stick 
is carried to form a 
rest, that ensures the 
accuracy of aim. Pow- 
der and lead are so ex- 
pensive that great econ- 
omy is shown in their 
use. I was told these 
natives were excellent 
marksmen and rarely 
missed a shot. When within proper distance of their game 
they place their supporting sticks very quickly and with such 
caution as to make no noise. 

One intoxicated aboriginal stood in the group of Cossacks 
on the bank and appeared quarrelsome, but found the Rus- 
sians too good-natured for his purpose. A light shower scat- 
tered the crowd and left the inebriate addressing a horse and 
a wood-pile. 

On the 11th of October the weather was like summer, the 
air still and clear and my thermometer standing at 71 de- 
grees. During the night I found it necessary to take an ex- 
tra blanket, and at noon of the 12th the thermometer was at 
45°, with a cloudy sky and a breeze from the northeast. This 
change of twenty-six degrees was too much for comfort, but 
of little consequence compared to my subsequent experience. 
Instances have been known of a change of seventy degrees 
in twelve hours from a sudden shifting of the wind. On the 



KIFLE SHOOTING. 



A COMPOSITE POPULATION. 287 

morning of the 13th we had a light fall of snow, with the air 
at freezing point and the water at 40°.* 

We passed a rock projecting far into the river, with pre- 
cipitous sides and a sharp summit visible for some distance 
along the Amoor. Below it is a small harbor, where the Rus- 
sian steamer Mala Nadeshda (Little Hope) passed the winter 
of 1855. She was on her way to Stratensk, carrying Ad- 
miral Puchachin on his return from a mission to Japan. 
Caught by ice the Nadeshda wintered under shelter of this 
rock, while the Admiral became a horse marine and mounted 
a saddle for a ride of four hundred miles. Sinctf that time 
the rock has borne the name of the boat it protected. 

In most of the villages there are schools for educating the 
boys of the Cossacks and peasants. Some pupils are admit- 
ted free, while from others a small fee is required. Occa- 
sionally I saw boys flocking to the schools at sound of the 
master's bell, or coming out at recess or dismissal. I had no 
opportunity to inspect one of these establishments, but pre- 
sume my description of the one at Mihalofski will answer for 
all. The youths were as noisy as school-boys everywhere, 
and when out of restraint indulged in the same hilarity as if 
born on the banks of the Hudson or the Thames. 

At noon on the 14th we stopped at Albazin to leave pas- 
sengers and take wood. It was Sunday, and the population 
appeared in its best clothing, a few of the women sporting 
crinoline, and all wearing their best calicoes. Among the 
men there were Cossacks and soldiers in their grey coats or 
in plain cloth and sheepskin. I saw a few Yakuts with the 
narrow eyes of the Tunguze and their clothing of deerskin. 

* I here enter a protest against the Fahrenheit thermometer, and think all 
who have used it to any extent will join me in preferring the Centigrade or 
Reaumer scales. Centigrade has the freezing point at zero and the boiling point 
at 100°. Reaumer freezes at zero and boils at 80°. Fahrenheit very clumsily 
freezes at 32° and boils at 212°. The difference in the graduation of the scale is 
of much less consequence than the awkwardness of beginning the reading at 32°. 
The' Russians use Reaumer 's method, and I always envied them their conven- 
ience of saying ' there are so many degrees of cold,' or ' so many of heat,' while 
I was forced to count from 32° to use my national scale. 



238 TRACES OF A CHINESE SIEGE. 

A few Orochons stood apart from the Russians, but not less 
observant of the boat and those on board. Outside the vil- 
lage were three or four conical yourts belonging to the abo- 
riginals. It is said this people formerly lived in the province 
of Yakutsk, whence they emigrated to the Amoor in 1825. 
One of their chiefs has a hunting knife with the initials of 
the Empress Catherine. It was presented to an ancestor of 
the present owner. 

Albazin is finely situated on a plateau fifty feet high and 
extending some distance back to the mountains. Opposite is 
a small river abounding in fish, and in front an island several 
thousand acres in extent and very fertile. Though less than 
seven years old, Albazin had already begun to sell grain for 
transportation to Nerchinsk. A steamer laden with grain 
left for Stratensk three days before our arrival. 

Albazin is of historical interest to the Russians. In the 
year 1669 a Polish adventurer named Chernigofsky built a 
fort at Albazin. That his men might not be without the com- 
forts of religion he brought a priest, who founded a church 
at the new settlement. It is related that when organizing 
his expedition he forcibly seized this priest and kept him un- 
der guard during the journey to the Amoor. The Chinese 
twice besieged Albazin, once with eighteen thousand men, and 
afterward with- nearly double that number. The Russians 
resisted a long time, and were only driven from the Amoor 
by the famous treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689. 

When I landed at Albazin, Captain Porotof, superintendent 
of the Russian settlements between that point and Komarskoi, 
guided me through the ruins. The present village of Alba- 
zin is inside the line of Chinese works, and the church occu- 
pies the interior of the old fort. All the lines of intrench- 
ment and siege can be easily seen, the fort being distinctly 
visible from the river. Its walls are about ten feet high, and 
the ditch is partially filled from the washing of earth during 
the many years since the evacuation. A drain that carries 
water from the church has cut a hole through the embank- 



VALUABLE SABLE PURS. 



239 



ment. In it I could see the traces of the trees and brush- 
wood used in making the fort. 

In the fort and around it cannon shot, bullets, arrow heads, 
and pieces of pottery are frequently found. A few years ago 
a magazine of rye was discovered, the grains being perfect 
and little injured by time. Captain Porotof gave me two 
Chinese cannon shot recently found there and greatly rough- 
ened on the surface by the action of rust. The position and 
arrangement of their batteries and lines of circumvallation 
show that the Chinese were skilled in the art of war. 

Albazin was valuable to the early adventurers on account 
of the fine sables taken in its vicinity. It is important now 
for the same reason. The Albazin sable is the best on the 
Amoor ; that of the Buryea mountains is next, and that from 
Blagoveshchensk is third in grade. At several places I saw 
these furs, but found none of them equaling the furs of 
Kamchatka. 

Some interesting stories about the siege of Albazin are told 
by the Russians. While the siege was progressing and the 
garrison was greatly distressed for want of food, Chernigofsky 
sent a pie weighing forty or fifty pounds to the Chinese com- 
mander to convince him that the fort was abundantly sup- 
plied. The latter was so delighted with the gift that he sent 
back for more, but his request was unheeded. He probably 
saw through the little game they were attempting to play on 
him and determined to beat them at it. History does not 
say whether the pie was pork, mutton, or anything else. Pos- 
sibly the curs of Albazin may have entered into its composi- 
tion. 




CHAPTER XXI. 

ABOVE Albazin the Amoor steadily narrows ; the hills 
are more rugged ; the trees less luxuriant ; the mead- 
ows fewer, and the islands less extensive. On the morning 
of the 15th my thermometer was at +16°, and the trees on 
the shore were white with frost. The deck passengers shiv- 
ered around the engines and endeavored to extract heat from 
them. The cabin passengers, excepting myself, were wrap- 
ped in their fur coats as if it were midwinter. . I walked 
about in my ordinary clothing, finding the air bracing but not 
uncomfortable. I could not understand how the Russians 
felt the cold when it did not affect me, and was a little proud 
of my insensibility to frost. Conceit generally comes of ig- 
norance, and as I learned wisdom I lost my vanity about re- 
sisting cold. 

Nearly every day on the KorsackofF I was puzzled at find- 
ing laurel leaves in the soup, and did not understand it till I 
saw a barrel of beef opened. There were lots of laurel leaves 
packed with the meat, and I learned that they assist the 
preservative qualities of the salt and give an agreeable flavor. 
I can speak in favor of the latter theory, but know nothing 
about the former. The ancient Romans wore laurel crowns, 
but they did not prevent the decline and fall of their empire. 
Possibly the Russians may have better success in saving their 
beef by the use of the laurel. 

During a fog on the river we grazed a rock, slid upon a 
sandbar, and then anchored, as we should have done at first. 
When in motion we employed all possible time, and, consid- 
ering the state of our engines, made very good progress. 

(240) 



A PICTURESQUE LANDING. 241 

Borasdine learned from our Cossack the explanation of this 
haste. / 

" The pilots, firemen, and nearly all the crew," said the 
Cossack, " have their wives at Stratensk, and are anxious to 
winter with them. If the boat is frozen in below there they 
must remain till she thaws out again. Consequently their 
desire to finish the voyage before the ice is running." 

At Ignatiena I met Colonel Shobeltsin, an officer identified 
with all the movements for the final occupation of the Amoor. 
In 1852 he made a journey from Irkutsk to Nicolayevsk, fol- 
lowing a route up to that time untraveled. He accompanied 
Mouravieff 's expedition in 1854, and was afterward intimately 
connected with colonization enterprises. A few years ago he 
retired from service and settled at this village. His face in- 
dicates his long and arduous service, and I presume he has 
seen enough hardship to enjoy comfort for the rest of his 
days. 

His house was the best on the Amoor above Blagovesh- 
chensk and very comfortably furnished. In the principal 
room there were portraits of many Russian notabilities, with 
lithographs and steel engravings from various parts of the 
world. Among them were two pictures of American country 
life, bearing the imprint of a New York publisher. I had 
frequently seen these lithographs in a window on Nassau 
street, little thinking I should find them on the other side of 
the world. One room was quite a museum and contained a 
variety of articles made by Manjours and Tunguze. There 
were heads of deer, sable, and birds, while a quantity of furs 
hung near the door. 

With a spirit of hospitality the Colonel prepared us a 
breakfast during our brief stay, and invited us to join him in 
the beverage of the country. When we returned to the boat 
the steward was superintending the killing of a bullock at 
the bank. Half a dozen wolfish dogs were standing ready to 
breakfast as soon as the slaughtering was over. A Cossack 
officer in a picturesque costume stood on the bank near the 
boat. He wore an embroidered coat of sheepskin, the wool 
16 



242 THE END OF THE AMOOR. 

inside, a shaggy cap of coal-black wool, and a pair of fur- 
topped boots. All his garments were new and well fitting, 
and contrasted greatly with the greasy and long used coats 
of the Cossacks on the boat. Sheepskin garments can look 
more repulsive than cloth ones with equal wearing. Age can 
wither and custom stale their infinite variety. 

Winding among the mountains and cliffs that enclose the 
valley we reached in the evening a village four miles below 
the head of the Amoor. I rose at daybreak on the 17th to 
make my adieus to the river. The morning was clear and 
frosty, and the stars were twinkling in the sky, save in the 
east where the blush of dawn was visible. The hills were 
faintly touched with a little snow that had fallen during the 
night. The trunks of the birches rose like ghosts among the 
pines and larches of the forest, while craggy rocks pushed 
out here and there like battlements of a fortress. The paw- 
ing steamer with her mane of stars breasted the current with 
her prow bearing directly toward the west. 

" Just around that point," said the first officer of the Kor- 
sackoff as he directed his finger toward a headland on the 
Chinese shore, " you will see the mouth of the Argoon on the 
left and the Shilka on the right ; — wait a moment, it is not 
quite time yet." 

When we rounded the promontory dawn had grown to day- 
light, and the mountains on the south bank of the Argoon 
came into view. A few minutes later I saw the defile of the 
Shilka. Between the streams the mountains narrowed and 
came to a point a mile above the meeting of the waters. On 
the delta below the mountains is the Russian village and Cos- 
sack post of Oust-Strelka (Arrow Mouth,) situated in Lati- 
tude 53° 19' 45" North, and Longitude 121° 50' 7" East. It 
is on the Argoon side of the delta and contains but a few 
houses. I knew by the smoke that so gracefully curled in 
the cold atmosphere that the inhabitants were endeavoring to 
make themselves comfortable. 

The Amoor is formed by the union of these rivers, just as 
the Ohio is formed by the Allegheny and Monongahela. Ge- 



ADIEU TO THE GREAT STREAM. 243 

ographers generally admit that the parent stream of a river 
is the one whose source is farthest from the junction. The 
Argoon flows from the lake Koulon, which is filled by the 
river Kerolun, rising in the Kentei Khan mountains in North- 
ern Mongolia. Together the Argoon and Kerolun have a 
development of more than a thousand miles. There are 
many Cossacks settled along the Argoon as a frontier guard. 
The river is not navigable, owing to numerous rocks and 
rapids. 

Genghis Khan, who subdued China and began that won- 
derful career of Tartar conquest that extended to Middle 
Europe, was born on the banks of the Kerolun. Some of 
his early battles were fought in its valley. 

The Shilka is formed by the Onon and Ingodah, that rise 
in the region north of the head waters of the Kerolun. 
From the sources of the Onon to Oust-Strelka is a distance 
of seven hundred and fifty miles. There are many gold 
mines along this river, and the whole mountain chain is 
known to be rich in minerals. Including its tributaries on 
both sides and at its formation, the Amoor as it flows into 
the Gulf of Tartary drains a territory of 766,000 square 
miles. 

There is a little island just below the point of land extend- 
ing between the two rivers. As we approached it the steamer 
turned to the right and proceeded up the Shilka, leaving the 
Amoor behind us. I may never see this great river again, 
but I shall never forget its magnificent valley and its waters 
washing the boundaries of two empires and bringing the 
civilization of the East and "West in contact. I shall never 
forget its many islands, among which we wound our tortuous 
way ; its green meadows, its steep cliffs, and its blue moun- 
tains, that formed an ever-changing and ever beautiful pic- 
ture. I shall never forget its forests where the yellow hues 
of autumn contrasted with the evergreen pine and its kind- 
red, and which nature has lavishly spread to shield the earth 
from the pitiless storm and give man wherewith to erect his 
habitation and light his hearthstone with generous fire. 



244 GENERAL MOURAVIEFP's EXPEDITIONS. 

Mountain, hill, forest, island, and river will rise to me here- 
after in imagination as they rose then in reality. A voyage 
along the entire course of the Amoor is one that the longest 
lifetime cannot efface from the memory. 

For a hundred and sixty years the little post of Oust-Strel- 
ka was the most easterly possession of Russia in the Amoor 
valley. In 1 347 Lieutenant General Mouravieff, having been 
appointed Governor General of Eastern Siberia, determined 
to explore the river. In the following spring he sent an offi- 
cer with four Cossacks to descend the Amoor as far as was 
prudent. The officer took a liberal supply of presents for the 
people along the banks, and was instructed to avoid all col- 
lisions with the natives and not to enter their towns. From 
the day of his departure to the present nothing has ever been 
heard of him or his men. Diligent inquiries have been made 
among the natives and the Chinese authorities, but no infor- 
mation gained. It is supposed the party were drowned by 
accident, or killed by hostile residents along the river. 

In 1850 and the three following years the mouth of the 
Amoor was examined and settlements founded, as already 
described. The year 1854 is memorable for the first descent 
of the Amoor by a military expedition. The outbreak of the 
Crimean war rendered it necessary to supply the Russian 
fleet in the Pacific. The colonies on the Pacific needed pro- 
visions, and the Amoor offered the only feasible route to send 
them. General Mouravieff made his preparations, and ob- 
tained the consent of his government to the important step. 
He asked the permission of the Chinese, but those worthies 
were as dilatory as usual, and Mouravieff could not wait. 
He left Shilikinsk on the 27th of May, escorted by a thousand 
soldiers with several guns, and carrying an ample supply of 
provisions for the Pacific fleet. 

The Chinese made no actual opposition, but satisfied them- 
selves with counting the boats that passed. Mouravieff sup- 
plied the fleet at the mouth of the Amoor, and then returned 
by way of Ayan to Irkutsk. The troops were left to garrison 
the fortified points on or near the sea. 



THE ARGOON AND SHILKA. 245 

In 1855 three more expeditions left Shilikinsk with soldiers 
and colonists. General Mouravieff accompanied the first of 
these expeditions and went directly to Nicolayevsk. The 
allied fleet attempted to enter the Amoor but could not suc- 
ceed. The general sent his compliments to the English Ad- 
miral and told him to come on if he could and he should be 
warmly received. In 1856 a few Cossack posts were estab- 
lished along the river, and in the next year nearly three thou- 
sand Cossacks were sent there. The Chinese made a formal 
protest against these movements, and there were fears of a 
hostile collision. The reverses that China suffered from the 
English and French prevented war with Russia, and in 1858 
Mouravieff concluded a treaty at Igoon by which the Russian 
claim to the country north of the Amoor and east of the 
Ousuree was acknowledged. The Russians were thus firmly 
established, and the development of the country has pro- 
gressed peacefully since that period. 

As the Argoon from its mouth to Lake Kerolun forms the 
boundary between the empires I lost sight of China when we 
entered the Shilka. As I shivered on the steamer's bridge, 
my breath congealing on my beard, and the hills beyond the 
Amoor and Argoon white with the early snow of winter, I 
could not see why the Celestials call their land the ' Central 
Flowery Kingdom.' 

The Shilka has a current flowing four or five miles an 
hour. The average speed of the Korsackoff in ascending 
was about four miles. The river wound among mountains 
that descended to the water without intervening plateaus, and 
only on rare occasions were meadows visible. The forests 
were pine and larch, with many birches. The lower part of 
the Shilka has very little agricultural land, and the only set- 
tlements are the stations kept by a few Cossacks, who cut 
wood for the steamers and supply horses to the post and 
travelers in winter. 

The first night after leaving the Amoor there was a pictur- 
esque scene at our wooding station. The mountains were re- 
vealed by the setting moon, and their outline against the sky 



246 SCENES AT THE VILLAGES. 

was sharply defined. "We had a large fire of pine boughs 
burning on the shore, and its bright flames lighted both sides 
of the river. The boatmen in their sheepskin coats and hats 
walked slowly to and fro, and gave animation to the picture. 
While I wrote my journal the horses above me danced as 
though frolicking over a hornet's nest, and reduced sentiment- 
al thoughts to a minimum. To render the subject more in- 
teresting two officers and the priest grew noisy over a triple 
game of cards and a bottle of vodki. I wrote in my over- 
coat, as the thermometer was at 30° with no fire in the cabin. 

"We frequently met rafts with men and horses descending 
to supply the post stations, or bound on hunting excursions. 
I was told that the hunters float down the river on rafts and 
then make long circuits by land to their points of departure. 
The Siberian squirrel is very abundant in the mountains 
north of the Shilka, and his fur is an important article of 
commerce. 

"We stopped at Gorbitza, near the mouth of the Gorbitza 
river, that formerly separated Russia and China and was the 
boundary up to 1854. 

Above this point the villages had an appearance of respect- 
able age not perceptible in the settlements along the Amoor. 
Ten or twelve miles from our wooding place we met ice com- 
ing out of the Chorney river, but it gave us no inconvenience. 
The valley became wider and the hills less abrupt, while the 
villages had an air of ^ irregularity more pleasing than the 
military precision on the Amoor. I saw many dwellings on 
which decay's effacing fingers were busy. The telegraph 
posts were fixed above Gorbitza, but the wires had not been 
strung. 

There were many haystacks at the villages, and I could see 
droves of cattle and sheep on the cleared hills. At one land- 
ing I found a man preparing his house for winter by calking 
the seams with moss. Under the eaves of another house 
there were many birds that resembled American swallows. 
I could not say whether they were migratory or not, but if 
the former they were making their northern stay a late one. 



HOTELS OF THE EXILES, 



247 




PREPARING FOR WINTER. 



Their twitterings reminded me of the time when I used to 

go at nightfall, ' when the swallows homeward fly,' and listen 

to the music without melody as the birds exchanged their 

greetings, told 

their loves, and 

gossipped of their 

adventures. 

Just at sunset 
we reached Shili- 
kinsk, a town 
stretching nearly 
two miles along 
the river, on a 
plateau thirty feet 
high. We stop- 
ped in the morn- 
ing where there 
was abundance of 

wood, but only took enough to carry us to Shilikinsk. There 
was a lady in the case. Our first officer had a feminine ac- 
quaintance at the town, and accordingly wished to stop for 
wood, and, if possible, to pass the night there. His plan 
failed, as no wood could be discovered at Shilikinsk, though 
our loving mate scanned every part of the bank. We had 
enough fuel to take us a few miles farther, where we found 
wood and remained for the night. The disappointed swain 
pocketed his chagrin and solaced himself by playing the 
agreeable to a lady passenger. 

I saw in the edge of the town a large building surrounded 
with a palisaded wall. " What is that?" I asked, pointing 
to the structure new to my eyes. 

" It is a station for exiles," was my friend's reply, " when 
they pass through the town. They generally remain here 
over night, and sometimes a few days, and this is their lodg- 
ing. You will see many such on your way through Siberia." 

" Is it also the prison for those who are kept here perman- 
ently?" 



248 END OF W A TElt T II A V E L . 

" No ; the prison is another affair. The former prison at 
Shilikinsk has been converted into a glass manufactory-. Just 
behind it is a large tannery, heretofore celebrated throughout 
Eastern Siberia for its excellent leather." 

As we proceeded the country became more open and less 
mountainous, and I saw wide fields on either side. A road 
was visible along the northern bank of the river, sometimes 
cut in the hillside where the slope was steep. On the south- 
ern bank there was no road beyond that for local use. The 
telegraph followed the northern side, but frequently left the 
road to take short cuts across the hills. 

We struck a rock ten miles from our journey's end, and 
for several minutes I thought we should go gracefully to the 
bottom. We whirled twice around on the rock before we left 
it, and our captain feared we bad sprung a leak. When once 
more afloat Borasdine and 1 packed our baggage and prepared 
for the shore. We ate the last of our preserves and gave 
sundry odds and ends to the Cossacks. As a last act we 
opened the remaining bottles of a case of champagne, and 
joined officers and fellow passengers in drinking everybody's 
health. 

Late in the afternoon of the 20th October we were in sight 
of Stratensk, The summer barracks were first visible, and 
a moment later I could see the church dome. In nearly all 
Russian towns the churches are the first objects visible on 
arriving and the last on departing. The house of worship is 
no less prominent in the picture of a Russian village than the 
ceremonies of religion in the daily life of the people. 

There was a large crowd on the bank to welcome us. Offi- 
cers, soldiers, merchants, Cossacks, peasants, women, chil- 
dren, and dogs were in goodly numbers. Our own officers 
were in full uniform to make their calls on shore. The 
change of costume that came over several passengers was in- 
teresting in the extreme. 

At last the steamer ceased her asthmatic wheeze and drop- 
ped her anchor at the landing. We gave our baggage to a 
Cossack to take to the hotel. Soon as the rush over the plank 



PLEASURE AND PAIN. 



249 



was ended I walked ashore from the Korsackoff for the last 
time. 

So ended, for the present, my water journeying. I had 
zig-zagged from New York a distance, by my line of travel, 
not less than fifteen thousand miles. The only actual land 
route on my way had been forty-seven miles, between Aspin- 
wall and Panama. I had traveled on two ocean passenger- 
steamers, one private steamer of miniature size, a Russian 
corvette, a gunboat of the Siberian fleet, and two river boats 
of the Amoor flotilla. Not a serious accident had occurred 
to mar the pleasure of the journey. There had been discom- 
forts, privations, and little annoyances of sufficient frequency, 
but they only added interest to the way. 

The proverb well says there is no rose without a thorn, and 
it might add that the rose would be less appreciable were 
there no thorn. Half our pleasures have their zest in the 
toil through which they are gained. In travel, the little hard- 
ships and vexations bring the novelties and comforts into 
stronger relief, and make the voyager's happiness more real. 
It is an excellent trait of human nature that the traveler can 
remember with increased vividness the pleasing features of 
his journey while he forgets their opposites. Privations and 
discomforts appeal directly to the body ; their effect once 
passed the physical system courts oblivion. Pleasures reach 
our higher being, which experiences, enjoys, and remembers. 




CHAPTER XXII. 



STRATENSK is neither large nor handsome. The most 
I saw of it was near the hotel whither we went from 
the boat. The rooms we were shown into faced the river, 
and had high walls decorated with a few pictures. My apart- 
ment had a brick stove in one corner, a table, three or four 
chairs, and a wide sofa or cushioned bench without a back. 
This last article served as bed by night and seat by day. No 
bed clothing is furnished in a Siberian hotel, each traveler 
being expected to carry his own supply. 

The government has a foundry and repair shop two miles 
above the town, where several steamers pass the winter and 
have their machinery repaired. Immediately on arrival we 
sent to request Mr. Lovett, the gentleman in charge of the 
works, to call upon us. He responded promptly, and came 
while we were at supper. Being English and with a slight 
tendency to embonpoint, he readily accepted several bottles of 
' Bass & Co.' that remained from our small stores. He was 
accompanied by Captain Ivashinsoff, who spoke English easily 
and well. His knowledge of it was obtained rather roman- 
tically as the story was told me. 

Two years earlier this officer happened in Hong Kong and 
during his stay an American vessel arrived. Her captain had 
been seriously ill for some weeks and totally incapable of 
duty. The first mate died on the voyage, and the second was 
not equal to the difficulties of navigation. The captain was 
accompanied by his daughter, who had been several years at 
sea and learned the mysteries of Bowditch more as a pastime 
than for anything else. In the dilemma she assumed control 

(250) 



OVERT HE RIVER. • 251 

of the ship, making the daily observation and employing the 
mate as executive officer. When they reached Hong Kong 
the captain was just recovering. The young woman came 
on shore, saw and conquered the Russian. Neither spoke the 
other's language, and their conversation was conducted in 
French. After their marriage they began to study, and had 
made such progress that I found the captain speaking good 
English, and learned that the lady was equally fluent in Rus- 
sian. She was living at Stratensk at the time of my visit, 
and I greatly regretted that our short stay prevented my see- 
ing her. She was a native of Chelsea, Massachusetts, and 
was said to enjoy her home on the Amoor. 

Three or four steamers were in winter quarters, and the 
Korsackoff was to join them immediately. Both at Stratensk 
and Nicolayevsk it is the custom to remove the machinery 
from steamers during winter. It is carefully housed to pre- 
vent its rusting, and I presume to lessen the loss in case of 
fire or damage from breaking ice. 

We talked with our new friends till late in the evening, 
and then prepared to continue our journey. Lovett gave me 
his blessing and a feather pillow ; the former to cover general 
accidents and the latter to prevent contusions from the jolt- 
ing vehicle. Borasdine obtained a Cossack to accompany us 
on the road and ordered our baggage made ready. The Cos- 
sack piled it into a wagon and it was transported to the ferry 
landing and dumped upon the ^gravel. We followed and 
halted in front of the palisaded hotel of the exiles. The 
ferry boat was on the opposite shore, four or five hundred 
yards away. Borasdine called, but the boatmen did not rise. 

" Dai sloopka ! " (send a boat.) 

After a moment's pause he repeated : 

" Dai sloopka ! " 

He added the usually magic word " courier ! " but it had 
no effect. He shouted repeatedly and grew hoarse. Then I 
lifted up my voice like a pelican in the wilderness, but with 
no better effect. When we had almost reached the pitch of 
despair a man appeared from behind a wood pile and tried 



252 



A DIFFICULT CROSSING. 



his vocal organs in our behalf. At his second call a reply 
was given, and very soon a light twinkled at the ferry house. 
The boat was a long time coming, and while we waited its 
arrival a drunken Bouriat made himself unpleasantly famil- 
iar. As often as I changed my position he would come to 
my side and endeavor to rest his dirty arm on my shoulder. 



;-:-V-«-,-- w:<x - \' --J^,^---JX^ ^:: = ^r^::-:.^js(^-^mr^- .fTOsSiKL 



Sgg 



: -1 : : • 




STRATENSK, EASTERN SIBERIA. 



! 1 finally walked 
through a pile of 
brushwood and 
crooked sticks, 
which was too 
much for the na- 
tive with his weak 
knees and muddy brain. After struggling with a persistency 
that would have been commendable had the object to be at- 
tained been commensurate to the effort, he became inextrica- 
bly tangled, and I left him in the loving embrace of a decay- 
ed tree-top. 

The boat came with four shaggy ferrymen, who had some 
difficulty in reaching land. It was a kind of large skiff, high 



EUSSIAN LAND TRAVEL. 253 

at both ends and having a platform, like that of a hay-scale, 
in the center. The platform projected a foot or more beyond 
the sides of the boat, and had no railing to prevent a fright- 
ened horse or drunken man going overboard. This is the 
general style of river ferry boats in Siberia. The boatmen 
do not appear very skillful in handling them, but I learned 
that serious accidents were very rare. 

We piled our baggage and left the shore, running upon two 
rocks and colliding with a sandbar before getting fairly away. 
I fell asleep during the crossing, satisfied that the crew did 
not need my assistance. We landed where the road is cut 
into the rocky bank, and were obliged to lift the baggage over 
a pile of stony debris. The boatmen said it was impossible 
to go to the regular landing, but I suspect they wished an ex- 
tra gratuhy for handling our impedimenta. Before the work 
was finished they regretted their manoeuvre. 

As we touched the shore one man went to the station to 
bring horses and a vehicle. Borasdine and I scrambled over 
the rocks to the road fifteen feet above the water, and by the 
time the crew brought up our baggage the conveyance ar- 
rived. It was what the Russians call a telyaga, drawn by 
three horses. 

This carriage is of Quaker simplicity. There are four 
wheels on wooden axles, with rough but strong ' reaches.' 
A body, shaped something like an old-fashioned baby-cart, 
rests upon the reaches or on poles fixed over them. The 
hood protects against wind and rain from behind, and the 
best of the vehicles have boots buttoned in front and attached 
to the hoods. The driver sits on the bow directly behind the 
shaft-horse, and one part of his duty is to keep from falling 
off. The traveler spreads his baggage inside as evenly as 
possible to form a bed or cushion. Angular pieces should be 
discarded, as the corners are disagreeable when jolted against 
one's sides. Two shafts are fixed in the forward axle, and a 
horse between them forms a sort of point cfappui. Any 
number from one to six can be tied on outside of him. 

The fault of our baggage was that we, or rather I, had too 



254 A BAD EOAD. 

much. Worst of all, I had a wooden trunk that I proposed 
throwing away at Nicolayevsk, but had been told I could 
carry to Irkutsk without trouble. It could not ride inside, or 
if it did we could not. We placed the small articles in the 
interior of the vehicle, and tied the trunk and Borasdine's 
chemadan on the projecting poles behind. The chemadan is 
in universal use among Siberian travelers, and admirably 
adapted to the road. It is made of soft leather, fastens with 
a lacing of deer-skin thongs, and can be lashed nearly water 
tight. It will hold a great deal, — I never saw one completely 
filled, — and accommodates itself to the shape of its aggre- 
gate contents. It can be of any size up to three or four feet 
long, and its dimensions are proportioned to each other about 
like those of an ordinary pocket-book. A great advantage is 
the absence of sharp corners and the facility of packing 
closely. 

We acted contrary to- the custom of the country in tying 
our baggage behind. There are gentlemen of the road in 
Siberia as there are ' road agents ' in California. The Sibe- 
rian highwaymen rarely disturb the person of a traveler, but 
their chief amusement is to cut away outside packages. As 
a precaution we mounted our Cossack on the trunk, but be- 
fore we went a mile he fell from his perch in spite of his ut- 
most efforts to cling to the vehicle. After that event he rode 
by the driver's side. 

On seeing Lovett at Stratensk my first question related to 
the condition of the road. " Horrid," said he. " The worst 
time to travel. There has been much rain and cold weather. 
You will find mud either soft or frozen most of the way to 
Chetah." 

Before we started the driver brought an additional horse, 
and after a preliminary kick or two we took the road. For 
a few miles we went up and down hills along the edge of the 
river, where the route has been cut at much labor and ex- 
pense. This was not especially bad, the worst places being 
at the hollows between the hills where the mud was half-con- 
gealed. When we left the river we found the mud that Lov- 



KISSING BY FAVOR. 255 

ett prophesied. Quality and quantity were alike disagree- 
able. All roads have length more or less ; ours had length, 
breadth, depth, and thickness. The bottom was not regular 
like that of the Atlantic, but broken into inequalities that 
gave an uneasy motion to the telyaga. 

To travel in Siberia one must have a padaroshnia, or road 
pass, from the government authorities, stating the number of 
horses to which he is entitled. There are three grades of 
padaroshnia ; the first for high officials and couriers ; the 
second for officers on ordinary business ; and the third for 
civilian travelers. The first and second are issued free to 
those entitled to receive them, and the third is purchased at 
the rate of half a copeck a verst. These papers serve the 
double purpose of bringing revenue to government and pre- 
venting unauthorized persons traveling about the country. 
A traveler properly provided presents his papers at a post- 
station and receives horses in his turn according to the char- 
acter of his documents. 

A person with a courier's pass is never detained for want 
of animals ; other travelers must take their chance. Of 
course the second class of passport precedes the third by an 
inflexible rule. Suppose A has a second class and B a third 
class padaroshnia. A reaches a station and finds B with a 
team ready to start. If there are no more horses the smo- 
tretal (station master) detaches the animals from B's vehicle 
and supplies them to A. B must wait until he can be served ; 
it may be an hour, a day, or a week. 

The stations are kept by contract. The government locates 
a station and its lessee is paid a stipulated sum each year. 
He agrees to keep the requisite horses and drivers, the num- 
bers varying according to the importance of the route. He 
contracts to carry the post each way from his station to the 
next, the price for this service being included in the annual 
payment. He must keep one vehicle and three horses at all 
times ready for couriers. Couriers, officers, and travelers of 
every kind pay at each station the rate fixed by law. 

In Kamchatka and North Eastern Siberia the post route is 



256 EQUIPMENT OF A POST EOUTE. 

equipped with dog-teams, just as it has horses in more south- 
erly latitudes. In the northern part of Yakutsk the reindeer 
is used for postal or traveling service. A padaroshnia calls 
for a given number of horses, usually three, without regard 
to the number of persons traveling upon it. Generally the 
names of all who are to use it are written on the paper, but 
this is not absolutely necessary. Borasdine had a padarosh- 
nia and so had I, but mine was not needed as long as we kept 
together. 

The post carriages must be changed at every station. Con- 
stant changing is a great trouble, especially if one has much 
baggage. In a wet or cold night when you have settled com- 
fortably into a warm nest, and possibly fallen asleep, it is an 
intolerable nuisance to turn out and transfer. To remedy 
this evil one can buy a tarantass, a vehicle on the general 
principle of the telyaga, but larger, stronger, and better in 
every way. When he buys there is a scarcity and the price 
is high, but when he has finished his journey and wishes to 
sell, it is astonishing how the market is glutted. At Strat- 
ensk I endeavored to purchase a tarantass, but only one could 
be had. This was too rheumatic for the journey, and very 
groggy in the springs, so at the advice of Lovett I adhered 
to the telyaga. 

The Russians apply the term 'equipage' to any vehicle, 
whether on wheels or runners, and with or without its motive 
power. It is a generic definition, and can include anything 
drawn by horses, dogs, deer, or camels. The word sounds 
very well when applied to a fashionable turnout, but less so 
when speaking of a dirt-cart or wheelbarrow. 

The same word, ' equipage,' is used in Russian as in French 
to denote a ship's crew. In this connection I heard an amus- 
ing story, vouched for as correct. A few years after the dis- 
appearance of Sir John Franklin the English Admiralty re- 
quested the Russian government to make inquiries for the 
lost navigator along the coast and islands of the Arctic Ocean. 
An order to that effect was sent to the Siberian authorities, 
and they in turn commanded all subordinates to inquire and 



THE RULE OF THE ROAD. 257 

report. A petty officer some where in Western Siberia was 
puzzled at the printed order to ' inquire concerning the Eng- 
lish Captain, John Franklin, and his equipage.' In due time 
he reported : 

" I have made the proper inquiries. I can learn nothing 
about Captain Franklin ; but in one of my villages there is 
an old sleigh that no one claims, and it may be his equipage." 

We carried one and sometimes two bells on the yoke of our 
shaft-horse to signify that we traveled by post. Every hum- 
bler vehicle was required to give us the entire road, at least 
such was the theory. Sometimes we obtained it, and some- 
times the approaching drivers were asleep, and the horses 
kept their own way. When this occurred our driver general- 
ly took an opportunity to bring his whip lash upon the sleeper. 
It is a privilege he enjoys when driving a post carriage to 
strike his delinquent fellow man if in reach. I presume this 
is a partial consolation for the kicks and blows occasionally 
showered upon himself. Humanity in authority is pretty cer- 
tain to give others the treatment itself has received. Only 
great natures will deal charity and kindness when remember- 
ing oppression and cruelty. 

I was not consulted when our telyaga was built, else it' 
would have been wider and longer. When our small parcels 
were arranged inside there was plenty of room for one but 
hardly enough for two. Borasdine and I were of equal height, 
and neither measured a hair's breadth less than six feet. 
When packed for riding I came in questionable shape, my 
body and limbs forming a geometric figure that Euclid never 
knew. Notwithstanding my cramped position I managed to 
doze a little, and contemplated an essay on a new mode of 
triangulation. We rattled our bones over the stones and 
frozen earth, and dragged and dripped through the mud to 
the first station. As we reached the establishment our Cos- 
sack and driver shouted "courier!" in tones that soon 
brought the smotretal and his attendants. They rubbed their 
half-open eyes and bestirred themselves to bring horses. The 
word 'courier' invigorates the attaches of a post route, as 
17 



258 



SIBERIAN HORSES. 



they well know that the bearer of a courier's pass must not 
be delayed. Ten minutes are allowed for changing a cour- 
ier's horses, and the change is often made in six or eight 
minutes. The length of a journey depends considerably 
upon the time consumed at stations. 

Here we found a tarantass, neither new nor elegant, but 
strong and capacious. We hired it to Nerchinsk, and our 




A SIBERIAN TAEANTASS. 



Cossack transferred the baggage while four little rats of po- 
nies were being harnessed. The harness used on this road 
was a combination of leather and hemp in about equal pro- 
portions. There were always traces of ropes more or less 
twisted. It is judicious to carry a quantity of rope in one's 
vehicle for use in case of accident. A Russian yemshick 
(driver) is quite skillful in repairing breakages if he can find 
enough rope for his purpose. 

The horses, like many other terrestrial things, were better 
than they appeared, and notwithstanding the bad road they 
carried us at good speed. I was told that the horses between 
Stratensk and Lake Baikal were strangers to corn and oats, 
and not over familiar with hay. Those at the post stations 
must be fed in the stable,- but nearly all others hunt their 
own food. In summer they can easily do this, but in winter 



STUCK IN THE MUD. 259 

they subsist on the dry grass standing on the hills and 
prairies. There is little snow in this region, but when it falls 
on the pastures the horses scrape it away to reach the grass. 
They are never blanketed in the coldest weather, and ithe 
only brushing they receive is when they run among bushes. 

In the government of Yakutsk there are many horses that 
find their own living in winter as in summer. They eat 
grass, moss, fish, bushes, and sometimes the bark of trees. 
Captain Wrangell tells of the great endurance of these beasts, 
and says that like all other animals of that region they shed 
their coats in the middle of summer. 

At the second station the smotretal sought our horses 
among the village peasants, as he had none of his own. He 
explained that a high official had passed and taken the horses 
usually kept for the courier. This did not satisfy Borasdine, 
who entered complaint in the regulation book, stating the cir- 
cumstances of the affair. At every station there is a book 
sealed to a small table and open to public inspection. An 
aggrieved traveler is at liberty to record a statement of his 
trouble. At regular intervals an officer investigates the af- 
fairs of every station. Complaints are examined, and offences 
treated according to their character. This wholesome regu- 
lation keeps the station masters in proper restraint. 

Day had fairly opened through a dense fog when our delay 
ended. While we descended a long hill one of our hinder 
wheels parted company and took a tangent to the road side. 
"We were in full gallop at the time, but did not keep it up 
long. A pole from a neighboring fence, held by a Pole from 
Warsaw, lifted the axle so that the wheel could be replaced. 
I assisted by leaving the carriage and standing at the roadside 
till all was ready. We had some doubts about the vehicle 
holding together much longer, but it behaved very well. The 
tarantass is a marvel of endurance. To listen to the creak- 
ing of its joints, and observe its air of infirmity, lead to the 
belief that it will go to pieces within a few hours. It rattles 
and groans and threatens prompt analysis, but some how it 



260 THE VALLEY OP THE NERTCHA. 

continues cohesive and preserves its identity hundreds of 
miles over rough roads. ' 

We were merciless to the horses as they were not ours and 
we were in a hurry. "When the driver allowed them to lag, 
Borasdine ejaculated ' poshol ! ' with a great deal of empha- 
sis and much effect. This word is like ' faster' in English, 
and is learned very early in a traveler's career in Russia. I 
acquired it before reaching the first station on my ride, and 
could use it very skillfully. In the same connection are the 
words l droghi' ('touch up,') ' shorey' ('hurry,') and ' stupie' 
(' go ahead.') All these commands have the accent upon the 
last syllable, and are very easy to the vocal organs. I learned 
them all and often used them, but to this day I do not know 
the Russian word for ' slower.' I never had occasion to em- 
ploy it while in the empire, except once when thrown down 
an icy slope with a heap of broken granite at its base, and at 
another time when a couple of pretty girls were standing by 
the roadside and, as I presumed, wanted to look at me. 

From Stratensk to Nerchinsk, a distance of sixty miles, our 
road led among hills, undulating ground, meadows, and strips 
of steppe, or prairie, sometimes close to the river, and again 
several miles away. The country is evidently well adapted 
to agriculture, the condition of the farms and villages indi- 
cating prosperity. I saw much grain in stacks or gathered 
in small barns. As it was Sunday no work was in progress, 
and there were but few teams in motion anywhere. The 
roads were such that no one would travel for pleasure, and 
the first day of the week is not used for business journeys. 

Prom the top of a hill I looked into the wide and beautiful 
valley of the Nertcha, which enters the Shilka from the north. 
On its left bank and two or three miles from its mouth is the 
town of Nerchinsk with five or six thousand inhabitants. 
Its situation is charming, and to me the view was especially 
pleasing, as it was the first Russian town where I saw evi- 
dences of age and wealth. The domes of its churches glist- 
ened in the sunlight that had broken through the fog and 
warmed the tints of the whole picture. The public buildings 



ARRIVAL AT NERCHINSK. 261 

and many private residences had an air of solidity. Some 
of the merchants' houses would be no discredit to New York 
or London. The approach from the east is down a hill slop- 
ing toward the banks of the Nertcha. 

We entered the gateway of Nerchinsk, and after passing 
some of the chief buildings drove to the house of Mr. Kapo- 
raki, where we were received with open arms. Borasdine 
and his acquaintance kissed affectionately, and after their 
greeting ended I was introduced. We unloaded from the 
tarantass, piled our baggage in the hallway, and dismissed 
the driver with the borrowed vehicle. Almost before we 
were out of our wrappings the samovar was steaming, and 
we sat down to a comforting breakfast, with abundance of tea. 
And didn't we enjoy it after riding eight or ten hours over a 
road that would have shaken skimmilk into butter? You 
bet we did. 



H 

4c 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE heaviest fortunes at Nerchinsk have been made in 
commerce and gold mining, principally the latter. I 
met one man reputed to possess three million roubles, and 
two others who were each put down at over a million. Mr. 
Kaporaki, our host, was a successful gold miner, if I may 
judge by what I saw. His dwelling was an edifice somewhat 
resembling Arlington House, but without its signs of decay. 
The principal rooms 1 entered were his library, parlor, and 
dining-room ; the first was neat and cozy, and the second 
elaborately fitted with furniture from St. Petersburg. Both 
were hung with pictures and paintings, the former bearing 
French imprints. His dining-room was in keeping with the 
rest of the establishment, and I could hardly realize that I 
was in Siberia, five thousand miles from the Russian capital 
and nearly half that distance from the Pacific Ocean. The 
realization was more difficult when our host named a variety 
of wines ready for our use. Would we take sherry, port, or 
madicra, or would we prefer Johannisberg, Hockheimer, or 
Verzenay ? Would we try Veuve Cliquot, or Carte d'Or ? A 
box of genuine Havanas stood upon his library table, and re- 
ceived our polite attention. We arrived about ten in the 
morning, and on consenting to remain till afternoon a half 
dozen merchants were invited to join us at dinner. 

Mr. Kaporaki's gold mines were on the tributaries of the 
Nertcha, about a hundred miles away. From his satisfied 
air in, showing specimens and figures I concluded his claims 
were profitable. The mining season had just closed, and he 
was footing up his gains and losses for the year. The gold 

(262) 



TAX ON GOLD MINING. 263 

he exhibited was in coarse scales, with occasional nuggets, 
and closely resembled the product 1 saw a few months earlier 
of some washings near Mariposa. 

The gold on the Nertcha and its tributaries is found in the 
sand and earth that form the bed of the streams. Often it 
is many feet deep and requires much ' stripping.' I heard of 
one priesk (claim) where the pay-dirt commenced sixty -five 
feet from the surface. Notwithstanding the great expense 
of removing the superincumbent earth, the mine had been 
worked to a profit. Twenty or thirty feet of earth to take 
away is by no means uncommon. The pay-dirt is very rich, 
and the estimates of its yield are stated at so many zolotnihs 
of gold for a hundred poods of earth. From one pood of 
dirt, of course unusually rich, Mr. Kaporaki obtained 24 zo- 
lotniks, or three ounces of gold. In another instance ten 
poods of dirt yielded 90 zolotniks of gold. The ordinary 
yield, as near as I could ascertain, was what a Californian 
would call five or six cents to the pan. 

Each of these merchant-miners pays to the government 
fifteen per cent, of all gold he obtains, and is not allowed to 
sell the dust except to the proper officials. He delivers his 
gold and receives the money for it as soon as it is melted and 
assayed. It was hinted to me that much gold was smuggled 
across the frontier into China, and never saw the treasury of 
his Imperial Majesty, the Czar. The Cossacks of the Argoon 
keep a sharp watch for traffic of this kind. " They either," 
said my informant, " deliver a culprit over to justice or, what 
is the same thing, compel him to bribe them heavily to say 
nothing." 

Nerchinsk formerly stood at the junction of the Nertcha 
and Shilka, on the banks of both rivers, but the repeated 
damage from floods caused its removal. Even on its present 
site it is not entirely safe from inundation, the lower part of 
the town having been twice under water and in danger of 
being washed away. 

Many of the present inhabitants are exiles or the descend- 
ants of exiles, Nerchinsk having been a place of banishment 



264 EXILES IN THE MINES. 

for political and criminal offenders during the last hundred 
years. Those condemned to work in the mines were sent to 
Great Nerchinsk Zavod, about two hundred miles away. The 
town was the center of the military and mining district, and 
formerly had more importance than at present. Many par- 
ticipants in the insurrection of 1825 were sent there, among 
them the princes Trubetskoi and Volbonskoi. After laboring 
in the mines and on the roads of Nerchinsk, they were sent 
to Chetah, where they were employed in a polishing mill. 

In many stories about Siberian exiles, published in England 
and America, Nerchinsk .has occupied a prominent position. 
As far as I could observe it is not a place of perpetual frost 
and snow, its summers being warm though brief. In winter 
it has cold winds blowing occasionally from the Yablonoi 
mountains down the valley of the Nertcha. The region is 
very well adapted to agriculture, and the valley as I saw it 
had an attractive appearance. 

The product of the Nerchinsk mines has been silver, gold, 
and lead. The search for silver and lead has diminished 
since the mines were opened to private enterprise. At one 
time 40,000 poods of lead were produced here annually, most 
of it being sent to the Altai mountains to be employed in re- 
ducing silver. In most places where explored the country is 
rich in gold, and- 1 have little doubt that thorough prospect- 
ing would reveal many placers equaling the best of those in 
California. 

"Very few exiles are now sent to Nerchinsk in comparison 
with the numbers formerly banished there. Under the reign 
of Nicholas and his father Nerchinsk received its greatest 
accessions, the Polish revolutions and the revolt of 1825 con- 
tributing largely to its population. Places of exile have al- 
ways been selected with relation to the offence and character 
of the prisoners. The worst offenders, either political or 
criminal, were generally sent to the mines of Nerchinsk, 
their terms of service varying from two to twenty years, or 
for life. I was told that the longest sentence now given is 
for twenty years. The condition of prisoners in former times 



STOEIES OF CEUELTY. 265 

was doubtless bad, and there are many stories of cruelty and 
extortion practiced by keepers and commandants. The 
dwellings of prisoners were frequently no better than the 
huts of savages ; their food and clothing were poor and in- 
sufficient ; they were compelled to labor in half frozen mud 
and water for twelve or fourteen hours daily, and beaten 
when they faltered. 

The treatment of prisoners depended greatly upon the 
character of the commandant of the mines. Of the brutal- 
ity of some officials and the kindness of others there can be 
little doubt. We have sufficient proof of the varied qualities 
of the human heart in the conduct of prison-keepers in 
America during our late war. There have been many exag- 
gerations concerning the treatment of exiles. I do not say 
there has been no cruelty, but that less has occurred than 
some writers would have us believe. Before leaving America 
I read of the rigorous manner in which the sentence of the 
conspirators of 1825 was carried out. According to one au- 
thority the men were loaded with chains and compelled to 
the hardest labor in the mines under relentless overseers. 
They were badly lodged, fed with insufficient food, and when 
ill had little or no medical treatment. 

Nearly all these unfortunates were of noble families and 
never performed manual labor before reaching the mines. 
They had been tenderly reared, and were mostly young and 
unused to the hardships of life outside the capitals. Thrust 
at once into the mines of Siberia they could hardly survive a 
lengthened period of the cruelty alleged. Most of them 
served out their sentences and retained their health. Some 
returned to Europe after more than thirty years exile, and a 
few were living in Siberia at the time of my visit, forty-one 
years after their banishment. I conclude they were either 
blessed with more than iron constitutions, or ihere is some 
mistake in the account of their suffering and privation. 

Many attempts have been made to escape from these mines, 
but very few were completely successful. Some prisoners 
crossed into China after dodging the vigilant Cossacks on the 



266 AN ADVENTUROUS JOURNEY. 

frontier, but they generally perished in the deserts of Mon- 
golia, either by starvation or at the hands of the natives. I 
have heard of two who reached the Gulf of Pecheli after 
many hardships, where they captured a Chinese fishing boat 
and put to sea. When almost dead of starvation they were 
picked up by an English barque and carried to Shanghae, 
where the foreign merchants supplied them with money to 
find their way to Paris. 

A better route than this was by the Amoor, before it was 
open to Russian navigation. Many who escaped this way 
lost their lives, but others reached the seacoast where they 
were picked up by whalers or other transient ships. In 1844 
three men started for the Ohotsk sea, traveling by way of the 
Yablonoi mountains. They had managed to obtain a rifle, 
and subsisted upon game they killed, and upon berries, roots, 
and the bark of trees. They escaped from the mines about 
midsummer, and hoped by rapid travel to reach the coast be- 
fore winter overtook them. 

One of the men was killed by falling from a rock during 
the first month of the journey. The others buried their dead 
companion as best they could, marking his grave with a cross, 
though with no expectation it would again be seen by human 
eyes. Traversing the mountains and reaching the tributaries 
of the Aldan river, they found their hardships commencing. 
The country was rough and game scarce, so that the fugitives 
were exhausted by fatigue and hunger. They traveled for a 
time with the wandering Tunguze of this region, and were 
caught by the early snows of winter when the coast was still 
two hundred miles away. They determined to wait until 
spring before crossing the mountains. Unluckily while with 
the Tunguze they were seen by a Russian merchant, who in- 
formed the authorities. Early in the spring they were cap- 
tured and returned to their place of imprisonment. 

The region around the Yablonoi mountains is so desolate 
that escape in that direction is almost impossible. By way 
of the post route to Lake Baikal it is equally difficult, as the 
road is carefully watched and there are few habitations away 



HOW A POLE ESCAPED. 267 

from the post villages and stations. No one can travel by 
post without a padaroslmia, and this can only be procured at 
the chief towns and is not issued to an unknown applicant. 

I heard a story of a young Pole who attempted, some years 
ago, to escape from exile. He was teacher in a private 
family and passed his evenings in gambling. At one time he 
was very successful at cards, and gained in a single week 
three thousand roubles. With this capital he arranged a 
plan of escape. 

By some means he procured a padaroslmia, not in his own 
name, and announced his intention to visit his friends a few 
miles away. As he did not return promptly search was made, 
and it was found that a person answering his description had 
started toward Lake Baikal. Pursuit naturally turned in 
that direction, exactly opposite to his real course of flight. 
He traveled by post with his padaroslmia and reached the 
vicinity of Omsk without difficulty. Very injudiciously he 
quarreled with the drivers at a post station about the pay- 
ment of ten copecks, which he alleged was an overcharge. 
The padaroslmia was examined in consequence of the quarrel 
and found applicable to a Russian merchant of the third class, 
and not for a nobleman, which he claimed to be. 

The station-master arrested the traveler and sent him to 
Omsk, when his real character was ascertained. On the 
third day of captivity he bribed his guards and escaped dur- 
ing the night. He remained free more than a month, but 
was finally recaptured and sent to Irkutsk. 

At Nerchinsk I resumed my efforts to purchase a tarantass, 
but my investigations showed the Nerchinsk market ' out ' of 
everything in the tarantass line and no promise of a new 
crop. Fortune and Kaporaki favored me, and found a suit- 
able A T ehicle that I could borrow for the journey to Irkutsk. 
I was to answer for its safety and deliver it to a designated 
party on my arrival there. 

The regulations did not permit, or at least encourage, 
Borasdine to invest in vehicles. A courier is expected, un- 
less in winter, to travel by the post carriages. All breakages 



268 FINDING A TAEANTASS. 

in that case are at the expense of government, with the pos- 
sible exception of the courier's bones and head. If a carriage 
breaks down he takes another and leaves the wreck for the 
station men to pick up. If he should buy a tarantass and it 
gave out he would be forced to leave it till he came again, or 
sell it at any price offered. Nothing that relates to his per- 
sonal comfort is allowed to detain a courier. He can stop 
only for change of team, hasty meals, and when leaving or 
taking despatches on his route. Sometimes a river gets high 
and refuses to respect his padaroslmia, or a severe and blind- 
ing storm stops all travel. A courier's pass is supposed to 
command everything short of the elements, and I have a 
suspicion that some Russians believe it powerful with the 
elements. 

A courier ought to travel with only his baggage and ser- 
vant, the former not exceeding 200 pounds. Borasdine had 
Cossack and baggage in proper quantity ; adding me and my 
impedimenta, he was hardly in light moving order. I sug- 
gested that he drop me and I would trust to luck and my 
padaroslmia. I had confidence in the good nature of the 
Russians and my limited knowledge of the language. I 
could exhibit my papers, ask for horses, say I was hungry, 
and was perfectly confident I could pay out money as long as 
it lasted. But my companion replied that an extra day on 
the route would make no difference in his catching the boat 
to cross Lake Baikal, and we would remain together until 
new difficulties arose. 

Having dined we visited the post-station and ordered horses 
sent to the house of our host. The servants filled our taran- 
tass with baggage, while their master filled us with cham- 
pagne. The vehicle displayed the best carrying capacity, as 
it had room for more when our hearts were too full for utter- 
ance, save in a half breathed sigh. 

We rattled out of Kaporaki's yard and down to the Nert- 
cha, where we had a ferry-boat like the one at Stratensk, 
though a little larger. The horses were detached and re- 
mained on the bank until the tarantass was safely on board. 



A BAD EOAD. 



269 



There was not much room for them, but they managed to 
find standing places. 

By the time we were over the river it was night, and the 
sentinel stars had set their watch in the sky. We found the 
road an unpleasant combination of snow, dirt, and water. 
We had four weak little horses, and the driver told us they 
had made one journey to the station and back again since 
morning. 

In the Russian posting system the horses carry loads only 
one way. The driver takes your vehicle to the station, where 
he is allowed to rest himself and horses one hour and then 
starts on his return. In ordinary seasons when the traveling 
is good, each team of horses will make two round trips in 
twenty-four hours. This gives them from fifty to seventy 
miles daily travel, half of it without load and at a gentle 
pace. 

After the third station the road improved, the snow and 
mud diminishing and leaving a comparatively dry track. 
The stations were generally so uncomfortably hot as to put 
me in a perspiration, and I was glad to get out of doors. 
The tempera- 
ture was about 
70° Fahrenheit, 
and the air at 
night contained 
odors from the 
breath and 
boots of dor- 
mant moujiks. 
The men sleep 
on the floor and 
benches, but the 
top of the stove 
is the favorite 

couch. . The stove is of brick as already described, and its 
upper surface is frequently as wide as a common bed. Some- 
times the caloric is a trifle abundant, but I have rarely known 
it complained of. 




FAVORITE BED. 



270 ENDURING SUDDEN CHANGES. 

I could never clearly understand the readiness and ability 
of the Russians to endure contrasts of heat and cold with ut- 
ter complacence and without apparent ill effect. I have seen 
a yemshick roused at midnight from the top of a stove where 
he was sleeping in a temperature of eighty-five or ninety de- 
grees. He made his toilet by tightening his waist-belt and 
putting on his boots. When the horses were ready he don- 
ned his cap and extra coat, thrust his hands into mittens, and 
mounted the front of a sleigh. The cold would be anywhere 
from ten to fifty degrees below zero, but the man rarely ap- 
peared to suffer. In severe weather I hesitated to enter the 
stations on account of the different temperature of the house 
and the open air, but the Russians did not seem to mind the 
sudden changes. 

All natives of Northern Siberia subject themselves without 
inconvenience to extremes of heat and cold. Major Abasa 
told me that when the cold was 40° below zero he had found 
the Koriaks in their yourts with a temperature 75° above. 
They passed from one to the other without a change of cloth- 
ing and without perspiring. At night they ordinarily slept 
in their warm dwellings, but when traveling they rested in 
the snow under the open sky. In his exploration around 
Penjinsk Gulf the major saw a woman sleep night after night 
on the snow in the coldest weather with no covering but the 
clothing she wore in the day. She would have slept equally 
well if transferred to a hot room. 

The Yakuts and Tunguze are equally hardy. Captain 
Wrangell gives examples of their endurance, especially of 
living in warm rooms or sleeping on the ice at a low tempera- 
ture. Captain Cochrane, the English Pedestrian, had a won- 
derful experience with some natives that guided him from the 
Lena to the Kolyma. Though the Captain was an old travel- 
er and could support much cold and fatigue, he was greatly 
outdone by his guides. He could never easily accommodate 
himself to wide extremes of heat and cold, and I believe this 
is the experience of nearly all persons not born and reared 
under a northern sky. 



A WONDERFUL FLORA. 271 

The road from Nerchinsk to Chetah is through an undulat- 
ing country, the hills in many places being high enough to 
merit the name of mountains. Sometimes we followed the 
valley of the Ingodah, and again we left it to wind over the 
hills and far away where the bluffs prevented our keeping 
near the stream. When we looked upon the river from these 
mountains the scene was beautiful, and I shall long retain 
my impression of the loveliness of the Ingodah. Mr. Collins 
described this valley nine years before me, and with one ex- 
ception I can confirm all he said of its charms. He had the 
good fortune to travel in spring when the flowers were in 
bloom, whereas my journey was late in autumn. My English 
friend at Stratensk spoke of this particular feature of the 
country, and described the thick carpet of blossoms that in 
some places almost hid the grass from view. To compensate 
for the long and dreary winter Nature spreads her floral 
beauties with lavish hand, and converts the once ice-bound 
region into a landscape of beautiful and fragrant flowers. 

The valley is fertile and well cultivated, villages and farm 
houses being frequent. The road was excellent, wide, and 
well made ; much labor had been expended upon it during 
the last two years. Its up and down-ishness was not to my 
liking, as the horses utterly refused to gallop in ascending 
hills a mile or two long. The descent was less difficult, but 
unfortunately we could not have it all descent. We had 
equal quantities of rising and falling, with the difference 
against us that we were ascending the valley. . Fortunately 
the road was dry and in some places we found it dusty. 

Late in the afternoon we halted for dinner, ordering the 
samovar almost before we stopped the tarantass. We ordered 
eggs and bread, and in hopes of something substantial Bor- 
asdine consulted the mistress of the house. He returned 
with disgust pictured on his countenance. 

" Have they anything ? " I asked. 

" Nothing." 

" Nothing at all ? " 

" No ; nothing but mutton." 



272 HOPELESSLY STUCK. 

Nothing but mutton ! I was entirely reconciled. When 
it came I made a fine dinner, but he took very little of it. 
There are great flocks of sheep belonging to the Bouriats in 
Eastern Siberia, and they form the chief support of that peo- 
ple. Curiously enough the Russians rarely eat mutton, 
though so abundant around them. Borasdine told me it sel- 
dom appeared on a Siberian table, and I observed that botli 
nobles and peasants agreed in disliking it. "While at dinner 
we caught sight of a pretty face and figure, more to my fel- 
low traveler's taste than the piece de resistance of our meal. 

After dinner we passed over a hill and entered a level 
region where we found plenty of mud. About midnight the 
yemshick exhibited his skill by driving into a mu dhole where 
there was solid ground on both sides. "We were hopelessly 
stuck, and all our cries and utterances were of no avail. 
The Cossack and the driver could accomplish nothing, and 
we were obliged to descend from the carriage. We required 
our subordinates to put their shoulders to the wheels, though 
the operation covered them with mud. While they lifted we 
shouted to the horses, Borasdine in Russian and I in French 
and English. 

Twenty minutes of this toil accomplished nothing. Then we 
unloaded all our baggage down to the smallest articles. An- 
other effort and we were still in our slough of despond. I 
retreated to a neighboring fence and returned with a stout 
pole. The Cossack brought another, and we arranged to lift 
the fore wheels to somewhere near the surface. It was my 
duty to urge the horses, and I flattered myself that I per- 
formed it. 

I had the driver's whip to assist my utterance ; the others 
lifted, while I struck and shouted. We had a long pull, a 
strong pull, and a pull all together, and pulled out of the 
depths. I attributed no small part of the success to the ef- 
fect of American horse-vocabulary upon Russian quadrupeds. 
When we reloaded it was refreshing to observe the care with 
which the Cossack had placed our pillows on the wet ground 
and piled heavy baggage over them. Borasdine expressed 



HABITS OF SIBERIAN DRIVERS. 273 

Ins objection to this plan in such form that the Cossack -was 
not likely to repeat the operation. 

The motion of the tarantass, especially its jolting over the 
rough parts of the route, gave me a violent headache, the 



CONCENTRATED ENERGIES. 



worst I ever experienced. The journey commenced too 
abruptly for my system to be reconciled without complaint. 
Nearly four months I had been almost constantly on ships 
and steamboats, all my land riding in that time not amount- 
ing to thirty miles. I came ashore at Stratensk and began 
travel with a Russian courier over Siberian roads at the worst 
season of the year. It was like leaving the comforts of a 
Fifth Avenue parlor to engage in wood-sawing. At every 
bound of the vehicle my brain seemed ready to burst, and I 
certainly should have halted had we not intended delaying at 
Chetah. 

A Russian yemshick centers his whole duty in driving his 
team. He gives no thought to the carriage or the persons 

18 



274 "FIVE o'clock in the morning." 

inside ; they must look out for their own interest. Let him 
come to a hill, rough or smooth, rocky or gravelly, provided 
there be no actual danger, he descends at his best speed. 
Sometimes the horses trot, and again they gallop down a long 
slope. Near the bottom they set out on a full run, as if pur- 
sued by a pack of hungry wolves. They dash down the hill, 
across the hollow, and part way up the opposite ascent with- 
out slacking speed. The carriage leaps, bumps, and rattles, 
and the contents, animate or inanimate, are tossed violently. 
If there is a log bridge in the hollow the effect is more than 
electric. The driver does not even turn his head to regard 
his passengers. If the carriage holds together and follows it 
is all that concerns him. 

At first I was not altogether enamored of this practice. 
But as I never suffered actual injury and the carriages en- 
dured their rough treatment, I came in time to like it. As 
a class the Russian yemshicks are excellent drivers, and in 
riding behind more than three hundred of them I had abund- 
ant opportunity to observe their skill They are not always 
intelligent and quick to devise plans in emergencies, but they 
are faithful and know the duties of their profession. For 
speed and safety I would sooner place myself in their hands 
than behind professional drivers in New York. They know 
the rules of the road, the strength and speed of their horses, 
and are almost uniformly good natured. 

We reached Chetah at five in the morning and roused the 
inmates of the only hotel. The sleepy chelavek showed us to 
a room containing two chairs, two tables, and a dirty sofa. 
The Cossack brought our baggage from the tarantass, and we 
endeavored to sleep. When we rose Borasdine went to call 
upon the governor while I ordered breakfast on my own ac- 
count. Summoning the chelavek I began, " Dai samovar, chi, 
saher e Jclehb" (give the samovar, tea, bread, and sugar.) 
This accomplished, I procured beefsteaks and potatoes with- 
out difficulty. I spoke the language of the country in a frag- 
mentary way, but am certain my Russian was not half as 
bad as the beefsteak. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

CHETAH stands on the left bank of the Ingodah, nearly 
three hundred miles above Stratensk, and is the capital 
of the Trans-Baikal province. For many years it was a 
small town with a few hundred inhabitants, but the opening 
of the Amoor in 1854 changed its character. Below this 
point the Ingodah is navigable for boats and rafts, and dur- 
ing the early years of the Amoor occupation much material 
was floated down from Chetah. In 1866 its population, in- 
cluding the garrison, was about five thousand. Many houses 
were large and well fitted, and all were of wood. The offi- 
cers lived comfortably, but complained of high rents. 

The governor's mansion is the largest and best, and near it 
is the club-house where weekly soirees are held. I attended 
one of these and found a pleasant party. There was music 
and dancing, tea-drinking and card-playing, gossip and silence 
at varied and irregular intervals. Some of the officers read 
selections from Russian authors, and others recited pieces of 
prose and poetry. There were dialogues, evidently humorous 
to judge by the mirth they produced, and there was a paper 
containing original contributions. The association appeared 
prosperous, and I was told that its literary features were 
largely due to the efforts of the governor. 

There is a gastinni-dvor or row of shops and a market-place 
surrounded with huckster's stalls, much like those near Ful- 
ton Ferry. Desiring to replace a broken watch-key I found 
a repair shop and endeavored to make my inquiries in Rus- 
sian. " Monsieur parle le Francais, je crois" was the re- 
sponse to my attempt, and greatly facilitated the transaction 

(275) 



276 



PRISONEES IN THE STREETS, 



of business. Before I left New York an acquaintance showed 
me a photograph of a Siberian, who proved to be the watch- 
maker thus encountered 

Walking about the streets I saw many prisoners at work 
under guard, most of them wearing fetters. Though I be- 
came accustomed during my Siberian travels to the sight of 
chains on men, I could never hear their clanking without a 
shudder, The chains worn by a prisoner were attached at 
one end to bands enclosing his ankles and at the other to a 
belt around his waist. The sound of these chains as the men 




PKISONERS AT CHETAH. 



walked about was one of the most disagreeable I ever heard, 
and I was glad to observe that the Russians did not appear 
to admire it. The prisoners at Chetah were laboring on the 
streets, preparing logs for house-building, or erecting fences. 
Most of the working parties were under guard, but the over- 
seers did not appear to push them severely. Some were tak- 
ing it very leisurely and moved as if endeavoring to do as 
little as possible in their hours of work. I was told that they 
were employed on the eight hour system. Their dress was 
coarse and rough, like that of the peasants, but had no marks 
to show that its wearer was a prisoner. 

There were between three and four thousand prisoners in 
the province of the Trans-Baikal. About one-sixth of them 



QUICK INSTRUCTION IN MUSIC. 277 

were at Chetah and in its vicinity. The prisoners were of 
two classes — political and criminal — and their punishment 
varied according to their offence. Some were sentenced to 
labor in chains, and others to labor without chains. Some 
could not go out without a guard, while others had more free- 
dom. Some were sentenced to work in prison and others 
were imprisoned without labor. Some were exiled to Siberia 
but enjoyed the liberty of a province, a particular district, or 
a designated town or village. Some were allowed a certain 
amount of rations and others supported themselves. In fact 
there were all grades of prisoners, just as we have all grades 
in our penitentiaries. 

The Polish revolution in 1863 sent many exiles to the 
country east of Lake Baikal. Among the prisoners at the 
time of my journey there was a Colonel Zyklinski confined in 
prison at a village north of Chetah. He had a prominent 
part in the Polish troubles, and was captured at the surrender 
of the armies. He served in America under M'Clellan dur- 
ing the Peninsular campaign, and was in regular receipt of a 
pension from our government. 

The Trans-Baikal Province is governed by Major General 
Ditmar, to whom I brought letters of introduction. When 
Borasdine returned from his visit he brought invitation to 
transfer our quarters to the gubernatorial mansion, where we 
went and met the governor. I found him an agreeable gen- 
tleman, speaking French fluently, and regretting the absence 
of Madame Ditmar, in whose praise many persons had spoken. 
At dinner I met about twenty persons, of whom more than 
half spoke French and two or three English. 

A military band occupied the gallery over the dining-room. 
When General Ditmar proposed "the United States of Ame- 
rica," my ears were greeted with one of our national airs. 
It was well played, and when I said so they told me its his- 
tory. On hearing of my arrival the governor summoned his 
chief musician and asked if he knew any American music. 
The reply was in the negative. The governor then sent the 



278 COLD CLIMATE BUT NO SNOW. 

band-master to search his books. He soon returned, saying 
he had found the notes of " Hail Columbia." 

"Is that the only American tune you have?" asked the 
general. 

" Yes, sir." 

" Have your band learn to play it by dinner time." 

The order was obeyed, and the American music accom- 
panied the first regular toast. It was repeated at the club- 
rooms and on two or three other occasions during my stay in 
Chctah, and though learned so hastily it was performed as 
well as by any ordinary band in our army. 

The principal rooms in General Ditmar's house had a pro- 
fusion of green plants in pots and tubs of different sizes. 
One apartment in particular seemed more like a greenhouse 
than a room where people dwelt. Whether so much vegeta- 
tion in the houses affects the health of the people I am un- 
able to say, but I could not ascertain that it did. The custom 
of cultivating plants in the dwellings prevails through Sibe- 
ria, especially in the towns. I frequently found bushes like 
small trees growing in tubs, and I have in mind several 
houses where the plants formed a continuous line half around 
the walls of the principal rooms. The devotion to floricul- 
ture among the Siberians has its chief impulse in the long 
winters, when there is no out-door vegetation visible beyond 
that of the coniferous trees. I can testify that a dwelling 
which one enters on a cold day in midwinter appears doubly 
cheerful when the eye rests upon a luxuriance of verdure and 
flowers. Winter seems defeated in his effort to establish uni- 
versal sway. 

The winters in this region are long and cold, though very 
little snow falls. Around Chetah and in most of the Trans- 
Baikal province there is not snow enough for good sleighing, 
and the winter roads generally follow the frozen rivers. 
Horses, cattle, and sheep subsist on the dead and dry grass 
from October to April, but they do not fare sumptuously every 
day. 

North and south of the head-waters of the Ingodah and 



HUNTING GAZELLES. 



279 



Onon there are mountain ranges, having a general direction 
east and west. Away to the north the Polar sea and the 
lakes and rivers near it supply the rain and snow-clouds. As 
they sweep toward the south these clouds hourly become less 
and their last drops are wrung from them as they strike the 
slopes of the mountains and settle about their crests. The 
winter clouds from the Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea rarely 
pass the desert of Gobi, and thus the country of the Trans- 
Baikal has a climate peculiar to itself. 

During my stay at Chetah a party was organized to hunt 
gazelles. There were ten or fifteen officers and about twenty 
Cossacks, 
as at Blago- 
veshchinsk. 
Up to the 
day of the 
excursion 
the weather 
was delight- 
ful, but it 
suddenly 
changed to 
a cloudy 
sky, a high 
wind, and a 
f r e e zing 
tempera- 
ture. The 

scene of action was a range of hills five or six miles from 
town. We went there in carriages and wagons and on horse- 
back, and as we shivered around a fire built by the Cossacks 
near an open work cabin, we had little appearance of a 
pleasure party. 

The first drive resulted in the death of two rabbits and the 
serious disability of a third. One halted within twenty steps 
of me and received the contents of my gun-barrel. I re- 
loaded while he lay kicking,- and just as I returned the ram- 




ON THE HILLS NEAR CHETAH. 



280 A "WORK OP ART BY A PRISONER. 

rod to its place the beast rose and ran into the thick bushes. 
I hope he recovered and will live many years. He seemed 
gifted with a strong constitution, and I heard several stories 
of the tenacity of life displayed by his kindred. 

The rabbit or hare (lepus variabilis') abounds in the valley 
of the Amoor and generally throughout Siberia. He is much 
larger than the New England rabbit I hunted in my boyhood, 
and smaller than the long-eared rabbit of the Rocky Moun- 
tains and California. He is grey or brown in summer and 
white in winter, his color changing as cold weather begins. 
No snow had fallen at Chetah, but the rabbits were white as 
chalk and easily seen if not easily killed. The peasants 
think the rabbit a species of cat and refuse to eat his flesh, 
but the upper classes have no such scruples. I found him 
excellent in a roast or stew and admirably adapted to destroy- 
ing appetites. Our day's hunt brought us one gazelle, six 
rabbits, one lunch, several drinks, and one smashed wagon. 

I saw at Chetah a chess board in a box ten inches square 
with a miniature tree six inches high on its cover. The fig- 
ure of a man in chains leaning upon a spade near a wheel- 
barrow, stood under the tree. The expression of the face, 
the details of the clothing, the links of the chains, the limbs 
of the tree, and even the roughness of its bark, were care- 
fully represented. It was the work of a Polish exile, who 
was then engaged upon something more elaborate. Chess- 
men, tree, barrow, chains, and all, were made from black 
bread ! The man took part of his daily allowance, moistened 
it with water, and kneaded it between his fingers till it was 
soft like putty. In this condition he fashioned it to the de- 
sired shape. 

When I called upon the watchmaker he told me of an 
American recently arrived from Kiachta. Two hours later 
while writing in my room I heard a rap at my door. On 
opening I found a man who asked in a bewildered air, " Ame- 
rikanshy domaV 

" Dah" I responded. 

" Parlez vous Francais P" was his next question. 



CATHOLIC PRIESTS IN SIBERIA. 281 

" Out, Monsieur, Francais ou Anglais." 

" Then you are the man I want to find. How do you do ? " 

It was the American, who had come in search of me. He 
told me he was born in England and was once a naturalized 
citizen of the United States. He had lived in New York 
and Chicago, crossed the Plains in 1850, and passed through 
all the excitements of the Pacific coast, finishing and being 
finished at Frazer's River. After that he went to China and 
accompanied a French merchant from Shanghae across the 
Mongolian steppes to Kiachta. He arrived in Chetah a 
month before my visit, and was just opening a stock of goods 
to trade with the natives. 

He was about to begin matrimonial life with a French lady 
whose acquaintance he made in Kiachta. He had sent for a 
Catholic priest to solemnize the marriage, as neither of the 
high contracting parties belonged to the Russian church. 
The priest was then among the exiles at Nerchinsk Zavod, 
three hundred miles away, and his arrival at Chetah was 
anxiously looked for by others than my new acquaintance. 
The Poles being Catholics have their own priests to attend 
them and minister to their spiritual wants. Some of these 
priests are exiles and others voluntary emigrants, who went 
to Siberia to do good. The exiled priests are generally per- 
mitted to go where they please, but I presume a sharp watch 
is kept over their actions. When there is a sufficient number 
of Poles they have churches of their own and use exclusively 
the Romish service. 

The Germans settled in Russia, as well as Russians of Ger- 
man descent, usually adhere to the Lutheran faith. The Si- 
berian peasants almost invariably speak of a Lutheran church 
as a ' German ' one, and in like manner apply the name ' Pol- 
ish' to Catholic churches. The government permits all re- 
ligious denominations in Siberia to worship God in their own 
way, and makes no interference with spiritual leaders. 
Minor sects corresponding to Free Lovers, Shakers, and bod- 
ies of similar character, are not as liberally treated as the 
followers of any recognized Christian faith. Of course the 



282. AN ARTILLERY REVIEW. 

influence of the government is for the Greek Church, but it 
allows no oppression of Catholics and Lutherans. So far as 
I could observe, the Greek Church in Siberia and the Estab- 
lished Church in England occupy nearly similar positions 
toward dissenting denominations. 

Three days after my arrival General Ditmar started for 
Irkutsk, preceded a few hours by my late traveling companion. 
In the afternoon following the general's departure I witnessed 
an artillery parade and drill, the men being Cossacks of the 
Trans-Baikal province. The battery was a mounted one of 
six guns, and I was told the horses were brought the day be- 
fore from their summer pastures. The affair was creditable 
to officers and men, the various evolutions being well and 
rapidly performed. The guns were whirled about the field, 
unlimbered, fired, dismounted, and passed through all the 
manipulations known to artillerists. 

At the close of the review the commanding officer thanked 
his men and praised their skill. He received the response, 
simultaneously spoken, " We are happy to please you," or 
words of like meaning. At every parade, whether regular 
or Cossack, this little ceremony is observed. As the men 
marched from the field to their quarters they sang one of 
their native airs. These Cossacks meet at stated intervals 
for drill and discipline, and remain the balance of the time 
at their homes. The infantry and cavalry are subject to the 
same regulation, and the musters are so arranged that some 
part of the Cossack force is always under arms. 

After the review I dined with a party of eighteen or twenty 
officers at the invitation of Captain Erifayeff of the govern- 
or's staff. The dinner was given in the house where my host 
and his friend, Captain Pantoukin, lived, en garcon. The 
Emperor of Russia and the President of the United States 
were duly remembered, and the toasts in their honor were 
greeted with appropriate music. In conversation after din- 
ner, I found all the officers anxious to be informed concerning 
the United States. The organization of our army, the rela- 



DEPARTURE PROM CHETAH. 283 

tions of our people after the war, our mode of life, manners, 
and customs, were subjects of repeated inquiry. 

On the morning of the 26th October, Captain Molostoff, who 
was to be my companion, announced his readiness to depart. 
I made my farewell calls, and we packed our baggage into 
my tarantass, with the exception of the terrible trunk that 
adhered to me like a shadow. As we had no Cossack and 
traveled without a servant, there was room for the unwieldy 
article on the seat beside the driver. I earnestly advise every 
tourist in Siberia not to travel with a trunk. The Siberian 
ladies manage to transport all the articles for an elaborate 
toilet without employing a single ' dog house ' or ' Saratoga.' 
If they can do without trunks, of what should not man be 
capable ? 

Our leave-taking consumed much time and champagne, 
and it was nearly sunset before we left Chetah. It is the 
general custom in Siberia to commence journeys in the after- 
noon or evening, the latter extending anywhere up to day- 
break. As one expects to travel night and day until reach- 
ing his destination, his hour of starting is of no consequence. 
Just before leaving he is occupied in making farewell calls, 
and is generally ' seen off' by his friends. In the evening he 
has no warm bed to leave, no hasty toilet to make, and no 
disturbed household around him. With a vehicle properly 
arranged he can settle among his furs and pillows and is 
pretty likely to fall asleep before riding many miles. I was 
never reconciled to commencing a journey early in the morn- 
ing, with broken sleep, clothing half arranged, and a ' picked- 
up ' breakfast without time to swallow it leisurely. 

On leaving Chetah we crossed a frozen stream tributary to 
the Ingodah, and proceeded rapidly over an excellent road. 
We met several carts, one-horse affairs on two wheels, laden 
with hay for the Chetah market. One man generally con- 
trolled three or four carts, the horses proceeding in single file. 
The country was more open than on the other side of Chetah, 
and the road had suffered little in the rains and succeeding 
cold. 



284 AN UNPLEASANT DOG. 

For some distance we rode near two lines of telegraph ; 
one was a temporary affair erected during the insurrection of 
1866, while the other was the permanent line designed to 
connect America with Europe by way of Bering's Straits. 
The poles used for this telegraph are large and firmly set, and 
give the line an appearance of durability. 

The Captain was fond of dogs and had an English pointer 
in his baggage. During the day the animal ran near the 
carriage, and at night slept at his master's feet. He was 
well inclined toward me after we were introduced, and before 
the journey ended he became my personal friend. He had 
an objectionable habit of entering the tarantass just before 
me and standing in the way until I was seated. Sometimes 
when left alone in the carriage he would not permit the yem- 
shicks to attach the horses. On two or three occasions of 
this kind the Captain was obliged to suspend his tea-drinking 
and go to pacify his dog. Once as a yemshick was mounting 
the box of the tarantass, ' Boika' jumped at his face and very 
nearly secured an attachment to a large and ruddy nose. 
Spite of his eccentricities, he was a good dog and secured 
the admiration of those he did not attempt to bite. 

We passed the Yablonoi mountains by a road far from dif- 
ficult. Had I not been informed of the fact I could have 
hardly suspected we were in a mountain range. The Yab- 
lonoi chain forms the dividing ridge between the head streams 
of the Amoor and the rivers that flow to the Arctic Ocean. 

On the south we left a little brook winding to reach the 
Ingodah, and two hours later crossed the Ouda, which joins 
the Selenga at Verchne Udinsk. The two streams flow in 
opposite directions. One threads its way to the eastward, 
where it assists in forming the Amoor ; the other through 
the Selenga, Lake Baikal, and the Yenesei, is finally swal- 
lowed up among the icebergs and perpetual snows of the far 
north. 

" One to long darkness and the frozen tide ; 
One to the Peaceful Sea." 



CHAPTER XXV. 

BEYOND the mountains the cold increased, the country 
was slightly covered with snow, and the lakes were 
frozen over. In the mountain region there is a forest of 
pines and birches, but farther along much of the country is 
flat and destitute of timber. Where the road was good our 
tarantass rolled along very well, and the cold, though con- 
siderable, was not uncomfortable. I found the chief incon- 
venience was, that the moisture in my breath congealed on 
my beard and the fur clothing near it. Two or three times 
beard and fur were frozen together, and it was not always 
easy to separate them. 

From the Yablonoi mountains to Yerkne Udinsk there are 
very few houses between the villages that form the posting 
stations. The principal inhabitants are Bouriats, a people of 
Mongol descent who were conquered by Genghis Khan in the 
thirteenth century and made a respectable fight against the 
Russians in the seventeenth. Since their subjugation they 
have led a peaceful life and appear to have forgotten all war- 
like propensities. Their features are essentially Mongolian, 
and their manners and customs no less so. 

Some of them live in houses after the Russian manner, but 
the yourt is the favorite habitation. The Bouriats cling to 
the manners of their race, and even when settled in villages 
are unwilling to live in houses. At the first of their villages 
after we passed the mountains I took opportunity to visit a 
yourt. It was a tent with a light frame of trellis work cov- 
ered with thick felt, and I estimated its diameter at fifteen 
or eighteen feet. In the center the frame work has no cover- 

(285> 



286 



VISITING A MONGOL YOUKT, 



feet high 



ing, in order to give the smoke free passage. A fire, some- 
times of wood and sometimes of dried cow-dung, burns in 
the middle of the yourt during the day and is covered up at 
night. I think the tent was not more than five and a half 
There was no place inside where I could stand 

erect. The 
door is of 
s eve ral 
thickness - 
e s of 
stitched 
and quilt- 
ed felt,and 
hangs like 
a curtain 
over the 
entrance. 
The eyes 
of the 
Bouriats 
were near- 
ly always 
red, a cir- 
cumstance 
explain- 
able by the 
smoke 
that fills 

their habitations and in which they appear to enjoy them- 
selves. In sleeping they spread mats and skins on the 
ground and pack very closely. Two or three times at the 
stations in the middle of the night I approached their dwell- 
ings and listened to the nasal chorus within. The people are 
early risers, if I may judge by the hours when I used to find 
them out of doors. 

As to furniture, they have mats and skins to sit upon by 
day and convert into beds at night. There are few or no 




BOUKIAT TOUETS. 



CONVERSIONS AMONG THE NATIVES. 287 

tables, and little crockery or other household comforts. They 
have pots for boiling meat and heating water, and a few jugs, 
bottles, and basins for holding milk and other liquids. A 
wooden box contains the valuable clothing of the family, and 
there are two or three bags for miscellaneous use. In the 
first yourt I entered I found an altar that was doubtless hol- 
low and utilized as a place of storage. A few small cups 
containing grain, oil, and other offerings were placed on this 
altar, and I was careful not to disturb them. 

Their religion is Bhudistic, and they have their lamas, who 
possess a certain amount of sanctity from the Grand Lama 
of Thibet. The lamas are numerous and their sacred char- 
acter does not relieve or deprive them of terrestrial labor and 
trouble. Many of the lamas engage in the same pursuits as 
their followers, and are only relieved from toil to exercise 
the duties of their positions. They perform the functions of 
priest, physician, detective officer, and judge, and are sup- 
posed to have control over souls and bodies, to direct the one 
and heal the other. Man, woman, child, or animal falling 
sick the lama is summoned. Thanks to the fears and super- 
stitions of native thieves he can generally find and restore 
stolen articles, and has the power to inflict punishment. 

The Russian priests have made very few converts among 
the Bouriats, though laboring zealously ever since the con- 
quest of Siberia. In 1680 a monastery was founded at 
Troitsk for the especial purpose of converting the natives. 
The number who have been baptized is very small, and most 
of them are still pagans at heart. Two English missionaries 
lived a long time at Selenginsk, but though earnest and hard 
working I am told they never obtained a single proselyte. 

It is a curious fact in the history of the Bouriats that 
Shamanism was almost universal among them two hundred 
years ago ; practically it differed little from that of the na- 
tives on the Amoor. Toward the end of the seventeenth 
century a mission went from Siberia to Thibet, and its mem- 
bers returned as lamas and bringing the paraphernalia of the 
new religion which they at once declared to their people. 



288 



DEESS OP THE BOURIATS. 



The Bhudistic faith was thus founded and spread over the 
country until Shamanism was gradually superseded. Traces 
of the old superstition are still visible in certain parts of the 
lama worship. 

Most of their religious property, such as robes, idols, cups, 
bells, and other necessaries for the Bhudhist service come 

from Thibet. A Russian 
gentleman gave me a bell 
decorated with holy in- 
scriptions and possessing 
a remarkably fine tone. 
Its handle was the bust 
and crown of a Bhudhist 
idol, and the bell was de- 
signed for use in religious 
services ; it was to be 
touched only by a disciple 
of the true faith, and its 
possession prophesied 
good fortune. Since my 
return to America it oc- 
cupied a temporary place 
on the dining-table of a 
New England clergyman. 
The Bouriats manufac- 
ture very few articles for 
their own use ; they sell 
their sheep to the Rus- 
sians, and buy whatever 
they desire. Their dress 
is partly Mongol and part- 
ly Russian, the inconven- 
ient portions of the Chinese costume being generally rejected. 
Their caps were mostly conical in shape, made of quilted 
cloth and ornamented with a silken tassel attached to the 
apex. Their trowsers had a Chinese appearance, but their 
coats were generally of sheepskin, after the Russian model. 




A MONGOL BELL. 



BOURIAT DRIVERS. 



289 



Their waist-belts were decorated with bits of steel or brass. 
They shave the head and wear the hair in a queue like the 
Chinese, but are not careful to keep it closely trimmed. A 
few are half Mongol and half Russian, caused no doubt by 
their owners being born and reared under Muscovite protec- 
tion. I saw many pleasing and intelligent countenances, but 
few that were pretty ac- 
cording to Western no- 
tions. There is a famous 
Bouriat beauty of whose 
charms 1 heard much and 
was anxious to gaze upon. 
Unfortunately it was two 
o'clock in the morning 
when we reached the sta- 
tion where she lived. The 
unfashionable hour and a 
big dog combined to pre- 
v e n t my visiting her 
abode. 

From the mountains to 
Verkne Udinsk most of 
our drivers were Bouriats. 
They were quite as skill 
ful and daring as the Rus- 
sian yemshicks, and took 
us at excellent speed 
where the road was good. 
The station-masters were 
Russian, but frequently 
all their employees were 
of Mongol blood. Some 

part of the carriage gave way on the road, and it was neces- 
sary to repair it at a station. A Bouriat man-of-all-work un- 
dertook the job and performed it very well. While waiting 
for the repairs I saw some good specimens of iron work from 
the hands of native blacksmiths. 
19 




A MONGOL BELLE. 



290 



SHEEP RAISING IN SIBERIA. 



The Bouriats engage in very little agriculture. Properly 
they are herdsmen, and keep large droves of cattle, horses, 
and sheep, the latter being most numerous. I saw many of 
their flocks near the road we traveled or feeding on distant 
parts of the plain. The country was open and slightly roll- 
ing, timber being scarce and the soil more or less stony. 
Each flock of sheep was tended by one or more herdsmen 
armed with poles like rake-handles, and attached to each pole 

was a short rope 

figlS; %- JUl with a noose at 
' ;|' the end. This 

-|pj implement is used 
in catching sheep, 
and the Bouriats 
are very skillful 
in handling it. I 
saw one select a 
sheep which be- 
came separated 
from the flock be- 
fore he secured it. 
The animal while 
pursued attempted to double on his track. As he turned the 
man swung his pole and caught the head of the sheep in his 
noose. It reminded me of lasso throwing in Mexico and 
California. 

In looking at these flocks I remembered a conundrum con- 
taining the inquiry, " Why do white sheep eat more hay than 
black ones ?" The answer was, " Because there are more of 
them." In Siberia the question and its reply would be in- 
correct, as the white sheep are in the minority. In this the 
sheep of Siberia differ materially from those I ever saw in 
any other country. The flocks presented a great variety of 
colors, or rather, many combinations of white and black. 
Their appearance to an American eye was a very peculiar 
and novel one. 

At one station a beggar crouched on the ground near the 




CATCHING SHliEt. 



A PERILOUS CROSSING. 



291 



door asked alms as we passed him. I threw him a small 
coin, which he acknowledged by thrice bowing his head and 
touching the earth. I trust this mode of acknowledging 
courtesy will never be introduced in my own country. 

"We frequently met or passed small trains of two-wheeled 
carts, some laden with merchandise and others carrying 
Bouriat or Russian families. Most of these carts were drawn 
by bullocks harnessed like horses between shafts. Occasion- 
ally I saw bullocks saddled and ridden as we ride horses, 
though not quite as rapidly. A few carts had roofs of birch 
bark to shield their occupants from the rain ; from appear- 
ances I judged these carts belonged to emigrants on their 
way to the Amoor. 

At the crossing of a small river we found the water full of 
floating ice that drifted in large cakes. There was much 
fixed ice at both edges and we waited an hour to have it cut 
away. When 
the smotretal <^^ 

announced that *'^-k<J: i 

all was ready 
we proceeded to 
the river and 
found it any- 
thing but invit- 
ing. The Bou- 
riat yemshick 
pronounced i t 
safe, and as he 
was a responsi- 
ble party we de- 
ferred to his 

judgment. While we waited a girl rode a horse through the 
stream without hesitation. 

We had four horses harnessed abreast and guided by the 
yemshick. Two others were temporarily attached ahead un- 
der control of a Bouriat. As we drove into the river the 
horses shrank from the cold water and ice that came against 




A COLD BATH. 



292 ARRIVAL AT VERKNE UDINSK. 

their sides. One slipped and fell, but was soon up again. 
The current drifted us with it and I thought for a moment 
we were badly caught; The drivers whipped and shouted so 
effectively that we reached the other side without accident. 

On the second evening we had a drunken yemshick who 
lost the road several times and once drove us into a clump 
of bushes. As a partial excuse the night was so dark that 
one could not see ten feet ahead. About two o'clock in the 
morning we reached the station nearest to Verkne Udinsk. 
Here was a dilemma. Captain Molostoff had business at 
Verkne Udinsk which he could not transact before nine or 
ten in the morning. There was no decent hotel, and if we 
pushed forward we should arrive long before the Russian 
hour for rising. We debated the question over a steaming 
samovar and decided to remain at the station till morning. 
By starting after daylight we might hope to find the town 
awake. 

The travelers' room at the station was clean and well fur- 
nished, but heated to a high temperature. The captain made 
his bed on a sofa, but I preferred the tarantass where the air 
was cool and pure. I arranged my furs, fastened the boot 
and hood of the carriage, and slept comfortably in a keen 
wind. At daylight the yemshicks attached horses and called 
the captain from the house. He complained that he slept 
little owing to the heat. Boika was in bad humor and opened 
the day by tearing the coat of one man and being kicked by 
another. 

The ground was rougher and better wooded as we came 
near the junction of the Ouda and Selenga, and I could see 
evidences of a denser population. On reaching the town we 
drove to the house of Mr. Pantoukin, a brother of an officer 
I met at Chetah. The gentleman was not at home and we 
were received by his friend Captain Sideroff. After talking 
a moment in Russian with Captain Molostoff, our new ac- 
quaintance addressed me in excellent English and inquired 
after several persons at San Francisco. He had been there 



SIBERIAN ROBBERS. 293 

four times with the Russian fleet, and appeared to know the 
city very well. 

Verkne Udinsk is at the junction of the Ouda and Selenga 
rivers, three hundred versts from Irkutsk and four hundred 
and fifty from Chetah. It presents a pretty appearance when 
approached from the east, when its largest and best buildings 
first catch the eye. It has a church nearly two hundred 
years old, built with immensely thick walls to resist occa- 
sional earthquakes. A large crack was visible in the wall of 
a newer church, and repairs were in progress. 

In its earlier days the town had an important commerce, 
which has been taken away by Irkutsk and Kiachta. It has 
a few wealthy merchants, who have built fine houses on the 
principal street. I walked through the gastinni-dvor but 
found nothing I desired to purchase. There were many little 
articles of household use but none of great value. Coats of 
deerskin were abundant, and the market seemed freshly sup- 
plied with them. My costume was an object of curiosity to 
the hucksters and their customers, especially in the item of 
boots. The Russian boots are round-toed and narrow. I 
wore a pair in the American fashion of the previous year and 
quite different from the Muscovite style. There were fre- 
quent touches of elbows and deflections of eyes attracting 
attention to my feet. 

A large building overlooking the town was designated as 
the jail, and said to be rapidly filling for winter. " There 
are many vagabonds in this part of the country," said my 
informant. " In summer they live by begging and stealing. 
At the approach of winter they come to the prisons to be 
housed and fed during the cold season. They are generally 
compelled to work, and this fact causes them to leave as early 
as possible in the spring. Had your journey been in mid- 
summer you would have seen many of these fellows along 
the road." 

While speaking of this subject my friend told me there 
was then in prison at Verkne Udinsk a man charged with 
robbery. When taken he made desperate resistance, and for 



294 GOLD AND IRON MINES ON THE SELENGA. 

a long time afterward was sullen and obstinate. Recently 
he confessed some of his crimes. He was a robber by pro- 
fession and acknowledged to seventeen murders during the 
last three years ! Once he killed four persons in a single 
family, leaving only a child too young to testify against him. 
The people he attacked were generally merchants with money 
in their possession. Eobbenes are not frequent in Siberia, 
though a traveler hears many stories designed to alarm the 
timorous. I was told of a party of three persons attacked 
in a lonely place at night. They were carrying gold from the 
mines to the smelting works, and though well armed were so 
set upon that the three were killed Without injury to the 
robbers. 

I was not solicitous about my safety as officers were seldom 
molested, and as I traveled with a member of the governor's 
staff I was pretty well guarded. Officers rarely carry more 
than enough money for their traveling expenses, and they are 
better skilled than merchants in handling fire arms and de- 
fending themselves. Besides, their molestation would be 
more certainly detected and punished than that of a mer- 
chant or chance traveler. 

My tarantass had not been materially injured in the jour- 
ney, but several screws were loose and there was an air of 
general debility about it. Like the deacon's one-horse shay 
in its eightieth year, the vehicle was not broken but had 
traces of age about it. As there was considerable rough road 
before me I thought it advisable to put everything in order, 
and therefore committed the carriage to a blacksmith. He 
labored all day and most of the night putting in bolts, nuts, 
screws, and bits of iron in different localities, and astonished 
me by demanding less than half I expected to pay, and still 
more by his guilty manner, as if ashamed at charging double. 

The iron used in repairing my carriage came from Petrosky 
Zavod, about a hundred miles southeast of Verkne Udinsk. 
The iron works were established during the reign of Peter 
the Great, and until quite recently were mostly worked by 
convicts. There is plenty of mineral coal in the vicinity, 



PRIVATE MINING ENTERPRISES. 295 

but wood is so cheap and abundant that charcoal is princi- 
pally used in smelting. I saw a specimen of the Petrosky 
ore, which appeared very good. The machine shops of these 
works are quite extensive and well supplied. The engines 
for the early steamers on the Amoor were built there by Rus- 
sian workmen. 

There are several private mining enterprises in the rigion 
around Verkne Udinsk. Most of them have gold as their ob- 
ject, and I heard of two or three lead mines. 

During the night of my stay at this town Captain Sideroff 
insisted so earnestly upon giving up his bed that politeness 
compelled me to accept it. My blankets and furs on the 
floor would have been better suited to my traveling life, 
especially as the captain's bed was shorter than his guest. I 
think travelers will agree with me in denouncing the use of 
beds and warm rooms while a journey is in progress. They 
weaken the system and unfit it for the roughness of the road. 
While halting at night the floor or a hard sofa is preferable 
to a soft bed. The journey ended, the reign of luxuries can 
begin. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 



"TTTHEN" we left Vcrkne Udinsk we crossed the Sclcnga 
V V before passing the municipal limits. Our ferry-boat 
was like the one at Straten.sk, and had barely room on its 
platform for our tarantass. A priest and an officer who were 
passengers on the steamer from Blagoveshchensk arrived 
while we were getting on board the ferry-boat. They had 
been greatly delayed on the way from Stratcnsk, and waited 
two days to cross the Nercha. 

The Selenga was full of ice, some cakes being larger than 
the platform of our boat. The temperature of the air was 
far below freezing, and it was expected the river would close 
in a day or two. It might shut while we were crossing and 
confine us on the wretched flat-boat ten or twelve hours, un- 
til it would be safe to walk ashore. However, it was not my 
craft, and as there were six or eight Russians all in the same 
boat with me, I did not borrow trouble. 

The ice-cakes ground unpleasantly against each other and 
had things pretty much their own way. One of them grated 
rather roughly upon our sides. I do not know there was any 
danger, but I certainly thought I had seen places of greater 
safety than that. When we were in the worst part of the 
stream two of the ferrymen rested their poles and began 
crossing themselves. I could have excused them had they 
postponed this service until we landed on the opposite bank 
or were stuck fast in the ice. The Russian peasants are 
more dependant on the powers above than were even the old 
Puritans; The former abandon efforts in critical moments 

(296) 



ROUND THE WORLD IN FORTY SECONDS. 



297 



and take to making the sign of the cross. The Puritans 
trusted in God, but were careful to keep their powder dry. 

A wide sand bank where we landed was covered with 
smooth ice, and I picked my way over it much like a cat ex- 




OUlt FEKRY BOAT. 



ercising on a mirror. The tarantass was pushed ashore, and 
as soon as the horses were attached a rapid run took them 
up the bank to the station. 

A temporary track led across a meadow that furnished a 
great deal of jolting to the mile. Bight versts from Verkne 
Udinsk the road divides, one branch going to Kiachta and 
the other to Lake Baikal and Irkutsk. A pleasing feature 
of the route was the well-built telegraph line, in working or- 
der to St. Petersburg. It seemed to shorten the distance be- 
tween me and home when I knew that the electric current 
had a continuous way to America. Puck would put a girdle 
round the earth in forty minutes. From China to California, 
more than half the circuit of the globe, we can flash a signal 
in a second of time, and gain by the hands of the clock more 
than fourteen hours. 

From the point of divergence the road to Kiachta ascends 
the valley of the Selenga, while that to Irkutsk descends the 



298 FARM SCENES AND FAST TRAVEL. 

left bank of the stream. I found the Kiachta route rougher 
than any part of the way from Chetah to Yerkne Udinsk, 
and as the yemshick took us at a rattling pace we were pretty 
thoroughly shaken up. 

At the second station we had a dinner of stchee, or cabbage 
soup, with bread and the caviar of the Selenga. This caviar 
is of a golden color and made from the roe of a small fish 
that ascends from Lake Baikal. It is not as well liked as 
the caviar of the Yolga and Amoor, the egg being less rich 
than that of the sturgeon, though about the same size. If I 
may judge from what I saw, there is less care taken in its 
preparation than in that of the "Volga. 

The road ascended the Selenga, but the valley was so wide 
and we kept so near its edge that the river was not often 
visible. The valley is well peopled and yields finely to the 
agriculturalist. Some of the farms appeared quite prosper- 
ous and their owners well-to-do in the world. The general 
appearance was not unlike that of some parts of the Wabash 
country, or perhaps better still, the region around Marysville, 
Kansas. Russian agriculture does not exhibit the care and 
economy of our states where land is expensive. There is 
such abundance of soil in Siberia that every farmer can have 
all he desires to cultivate. Many farms along the Selenga 
had a ' straggling' appearance, as if too large for their own- 
ers. Per contra, I saw many neat and well managed home- 
steads, with clean and comfortable dwellings. 

With better implements of husbandry and a more thorough 
working of the soil, the peasants along the Selenga would 
find agriculture a sure road to wealth. Under the present 
system of cultivation the valley is pleasing to the eye of a 
traveler who views it with reference to its practical value. 
There were flocks of sheep, droves of cattle and horses, and 
stacks of hay and grain ; everybody was apparently well fed 
and the houses were attractive. We had good horses, good 
drivers, and generally good roads for the first hundred versts. 
Sometimes we left the Selenga, but kept generally parallel to 
its course. The mountains beyond the valley were lofty and, 



MEETING A TEA TRAIN. 299 

clearly defined. Frequently they presented striking and 
beautiful scenery, and had I been a skillful artist they would 
have tempted me to sketch them. 

The night came upon us cold and with a strong wind blow- 
ing from the north. We wrapped ourselves closely and were 
quite comfortable, the dog actually lolling beneath our sheep- 
skin coverlid. Approaching Selenginsk we found a few bits 
of bad road and met long caravans laden with tea for Ir- 
kutsk. 

These caravans were made up of little two-wheeled carts, 
each drawn by a single horse. From six to ten chests of tea, 
according to the condition of the roads, are piled on each 
cart and firmly bound with cords. There is one driver to 
every four or five carts, and this driver has a dormitory on 
one of his loads. This is a rude frame two and a half by 
six feet, with sides about seven inches high. With a sheep- 
skin coat and coverlid a man contrives to sleep in this box 
while his team moves slowly along the road or is feeding at 
a halting place. 

All the freight between Kiachta and Lake Baikal is carried 
on carts in summer and on one-horse sleds in winter. From 
Kiachta westward tea is almost the only article of transport, 
the quantity sometimes amounting to a million chests per 
annum. The tea chests are covered with raw hide, which 
protects them from rain and snow and from the many thumps 
of their journey. The teams belong to peasants, who carry 
freight for a stipulated sum per pood. The charges are lower 
in winter than in summer, as the sledge is of easier draft 
than the cart. 

The caravans travel sixteen hours of every twenty-four, and 
rarely proceed faster than a walk. The drivers are frequent- 
ly asleep and allow the horses to take their own pace. The 
caravans are expected to give up the whole road on the ap- 
proach of a post carriage, and when the drivers are awake 
they generally obey the regulation. Very often it happened 
that the foremost horses turned aside of their own accord as 
we approached. They heard the bells that denoted our char- 



300 



OLD AND NEW SELENGINSK, 



acter, and were aware of our yenishick's right to strike them 
if they neglected their duty. The sleeping drivers and de- 
linquent horses frequently received touches of the lash. 
There was little trouble by day, but at night the caravan 




EQUAL RIGHTS. 

horses were less mindful of our comfort. Especially if the 
road was bad and narrow the post vehicles, contrary to regu- 
lation, were obliged to give way. 

It was three or four hours before daylight when we reached 
Selenginsk, and the yemshick removed his horses preparatory 
to returning to his station. I believe Selenginsk is older than 
Verkne Udinsk, and very much the senior of Irkutsk. The 
ancient town is on the site of the original settlement, but 
frequent inundations caused its abandonment for the other 
bank of the river, five versts away. New Selenginsk, which 
has a great deal of antiquity in its appearance, is a small 
town with a few good houses, a well built church, and com- 
modious barracks. 

During the troubles between China and Russia concerning 
the early occupation of the Amoor and encroachments on the 
Celestial frontier, Selenginsk was an important spot. It was 
often threatened by the Chinese, and sustained a siege in 
1687. A convention was held there in 1727, and some pro- 
visions of the treaty then concluded are still in force. 



THE EULE OP THE ROAD. 301 

Mr. Bestoujeff, one of the exiles of 1825, was living at 
Selenginsk at the time of my visit. There were two brothers 
of this name concerned in the insurrection, and at the expi- 
ration of their sentences to labor they were settled at this 
place. Subsequently they were joined by three sisters, who 
sacrificed all their prospects in life to meet their brothers in 
Siberia. The family was permitted to return to Europe when 
the present emperor ascended the throne, but having been so 
long absent the permission was never accepted. 

The river was full of floating ice and could not be crossed 
in the night, and we ordered horses so that we might reach 
the .bank at dawn. Both banks of the river were crowded 
with carts, some laden and others empty. A government 
officer has preference over dead loads of merchandise, and so 
we were taken in charge without delay. To prevent acci- 
dents the horses were detached, and the carriage pushed on 
the ferry-boat by men. The tamed unfiery steeds followed 
us with some reluctance, and shivered in the breeze during 
the voyage. We remained in the tarantass through the whole 
transaction. The ice ran in the river as at Verkne Udinsk, 
but the cakes were not as large. Our chief ferryman was a 
Russian, and had a crew of six Bouriats who spoke Mongol 
among themselves and Russian with their commander. 

From Selenginsk to Kiachta, a distance of ninety versts, 
the road is hilly and sandy. We toiled slowly up the ascents, 
and our downward progress was but little better. We met 
several caravans where the road was narrow and had but one 
beaten track. In such cases we generally found it better to 
turn aside ourselves than to insist upon our rights and com- 
pel the caravan to leave the road. The hills were sandy and 
desolate, and I could not see any special charm in the land- 
scape. I employed much of the day in sleeping, which may 
possibly account for the lack of minute description of the 
road. 

The only point where the cold touched me was at the tip 
of my nose, where I left my dehar open to obtain air. The 
Russian dehar is generally made of antelope or deer skin. 



302 AN INCONVENIENT COSTUME. 

and forms an admirable defence against cold. Mine reached 
to my heels, and touched the floor when I stood erect. When 
the collar was turned up and brought together in front my 
head was utterly invisible. The sleeves were four or five 
inches longer than my arms, and the width of the garment 
was enough for a man and a boy. I at first suspected I had 
bought by mistake a coat intended for a Russian giant then 
exhibiting in Moscow. 

This article of apparel is comfortable only when one is 
seated or extended in his equipage. Walking is very difficult 
in a debar, and its wearer feels about as free to move as if 
enclosed in a pork-barrel. It was a long time before I could 
turn my collar up or down without assistance, and frequently 
after several efforts to seize an outside object I found myself 
grasping the ends of my sleeves. The warmth of the gar- 
ment atones for its cumbersome character, and its gigantic 
size is fully intentional. The length protects the feet and 
legs, the high collar warms the head, and the great width of 
the debar allows it to be well wrapped about the body. The 
long sleeves cover the hands and preserve fingers from frost 
bites. Taken as a whole it is a mental discomfort but a 
physical good, and may be considered a necessary nuisance 
of winter travel in Siberia. 

At Ust Kiachta, the last station before reaching our jour- 
ney's end, we were waited upon by a young and tidy woman 
in a well-kept room. It was about nine in the evening when 
we reached Troitskosavsk, and entered town among the large 
buildings formerly occupied as a frontier custom house. As 
there was no hotel we drove to the house of the Police Mas- 
ter, the highest official of the place. I had letters to this 
gentleman, but did not find him at home. His brother took 
us in charge and sent a soldier to direct us to a house where 
we could obtain lodgings. 

It is the custom in Siberian towns to hold a certain number 
of lodging places always ready for travelers. These are con- 
trolled by the Police Master, to whom strangers apply for 
quarters. Whether he will or no, a man who has registered 



TAKING MUSIC LESSONS. 303 

lodging rooms with the police must open them to any guest 
assigned him, no matter what the hour. It was ten o'clock 
when we reached our destined abode. We made a great deal 
of noise that roused a servant to admit us to the yard. The 
head of the household came to the door in his shirt and rub- 
heel his eyes as if only half awake. His legs trembled with 
the cold while he waited for our explanations, and it was not 
till we were admitted that he thought of his immodest ex- 
posure. 

I would not wish it inferred that no one can find lodgings 
until provided by the police. On the contrary, it is rarely 
necessary to obtain them through this channel. Travelers 
are not numerous, and the few strangers visiting Siberia are 
most cordially welcomed. Officers are greeted and find homes 
with their fellow officers, while merchants enjoy the hospital- 
ities of men of their class. 

We ordered the samovar, and being within Parrott-gun 
range of China we had excellent tea. I passed the night on 
a sofa so narrow that I found it difficult to turn over, and 
fairly rolled to the floor while endeavoring to bestow myself 
properly. While finishing my morning toilet I received a 
visit from Major Boroslofski, Master of Police, who came to 
acknowledge General Ditmar's letter of introduction. He 
tendered the hospitalities of the place, and desired me to 
command his services while I remained. 

We had two rooms with a bedstead and sofa, besides lots 
of chairs, mirrors, tables, and flower pots. Then we had an 
apartment nearly thirty feet square, that contained more 
chairs, tables, and flower pots. In one corner there was a 
huge barrel-organ that enabled me to develop my musical 
abilities. I spent half an hour the morning after our arrival 
in turning out the national airs of Russia. Molostoff amused 
himself by circulating his cap before an invisible audience 
and collecting imperceptible coin. While dancing to one of 
my liveliest airs he upset a flower pot, and the crash that fol- 
lowed brought our concert to a close. Two sides of the large 



304 



TROITSKOSAVSK AND KIACHTA. 



room were entirely bordered with horticultural productions, 
some of them six or eight feet high. 




AMATEUR CONCERT IN SIBERIA. 



Troitskosavsk and Kiachta have a sort of husband and 
wife singleness and duality. They are about two miles apart, 
the former having five or six thousand inhabitants and the 
latter about twelve hundred. In government, business, and 
interest the two places are one, the Master of Police having 
jurisdiction over both, and the merchants living indifferently 
in one or the other. Many persons familiar with the name 
of Kiachta never heard of the other town. It may surprise 
London merchants who send Shanghai telegrams " via Ki- 
achta" to learn that the wires terminate at Troitskosavsk, 
and do not reach Kiachta at all. 

The treaty which established trade between Russia and 
China at Kiachta provided that no one should reside there 
except merchants engaged in traffic. No officer could live 
there, nor could any person whatever beyond merchants and 
their employees and families remain over night. No stone 



OFFICIAL VISITS AND DECOKATIONS. 305 

buildings except a church could be erected, and visits of 
strangers were to be discouraged. Kiachta was thus restrict- 
ed to the business of a trading post, and the town of Troitsk- 
osavsk, two miles away, was founded for the residence of the 
officials, outside traders, and laborers. Most of the restric- 
tions above mentioned exist no longer, but the towns have 
not quite lost their old relations. There is an excellent road 
from one to the other, and the carriages, carts, and pedes- 
trians constantly thronging it present a lively scene. 

The police master tendered his equipage and offered to es- 
cort me in making calls upon those I wished to know. Eti- 
quette is no less rigid in Siberian towns and cities than in 
Moscow and St. Petersburg. One must make ceremonial 
visits as soon as possible -after his arrival, officials being first 
called upon in the order of rank and civilians afterward. 
Officers making visits don their uniforms, with epaulettes and 
side arms, and with all their decorations blazing on their 
breasts. Civilians go in evening dress arranged with fastid- 
ious care. The hours for calling are between eleven A. M. 
and three P. M. A responsive call may be expected within, 
two days, and must be made with the utmost precision of 
costume. 

Arrayed for the occasion I made eight or ten visits in Ki- 
achta and Troitskosavsk. The air was cold and the frost 
nipped rather severely through my thin boots as we drove 
back from Kiachta. After an early dinner we went to Mai- 
maichin to visit the sargootchay , or Chinese governor. We 
passed under a gateway surmounted with the double-headed 
eagle, and were saluted by the Cossack guard as we left the 
borders of the Russian empire. Outside the gateway we 
traversed the neutral ground, two hundred yards wide, driv- 
ing toward a screen or short wall of brick work, on which a 
red globe was represented. We crossed a narrow ditch and, 
passing behind the screen, entered a gateway into Maimai- 
chin, the most northern city of China. 

20 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



FROM 1727 to 1860 nearly all the trade between Russia 
and China was transacted at Kiachta and Maimaichin. 
The Russians built the one and the Chinese the other, exclu- 
sively for commercial purposes. To this day no Chinese 
women are allowed at Maimaichin. The merchants consider 
themselves only sojourners, though the majority spend the 
best part of their lives there. Contact with Russians has 
evidently improved the Celestials, as this little frontier city 
is the best arranged and cleanest in all China. 

After passing the gateway, the street we entered was nar- 
row compared to our own, and had but a single carriage 
track. On the sidewalks were many Chinese, who stopped 
to look at us, or rather at me. We drove about two hundred 
yards and turned into an enclosure, where we alighted. 
Near at hand were two masts like flag-staffs, gaily ornament- 
ed at the top but- bearing no banners. Our halting place was 
near the Temple of Justice, where instruments of punish- 
ment were piled up. There were rattans and bamboos for 
flogging purposes by the side of yokes, collars, and fetters, 
carefully designed for subduing the refractory. There was a 
double set of stocks like those now obsolete in America, and 
their appearance indicated frequent use. To be cornered in 
these would be as unpleasant as in Harlem or Erie. 

From this temple we passed through a covered colonnade 
and entered an ante-room, where several officers and servants 
were in attendance. Here we left our overcoats and were 
shown to another apartment where we met the sargootchay. 
His Excellency shook hands with me after the European 

(306) 



INTERVIEW WITH A CHINESE GOVERNOR, 



307 



manner. His son, a youth of sixteen, was then presented, 
and made the acquaintance of Major Boroslofski. The sar. 
gootchay had a pleasing and interesting face of the true Chi 
nese type, with no beard beyond a slight mustache, and ? 
complexion rather paler than most of his countrymen. He 




A CHINESE MANDARIN. 



wore the dress of a Mandarin, with the universal long robe 
and a silk jacket with wide sleeves. 

After the ceremony of introduction was ended the sargoot- 
chay signed for us to be seated. He took his own place on a 
divan, and gave the 'illustrious stranger' the post of honor 
near him. Tea and cigars were brought, and we had a few 
moments of smoky silence. The room was rather bare of 



308 A CELESTIAL RECEPTION. 

furniture, and the decorations on the walls were Russian and 
Chinese in about equal proportion. I noticed a Russian 
stove in one corner and a samovar in the adjoining room. 
The sargootcbay had been newly appointed, and arrived only 
a week before. I presume his housekeeping was not well 
under way. 

The interview was as interesting as one could expect where 
neither party had anything important to say to the other. 
We attempted conversation which expressed our delight at 
meeting and the good- will of our respective countries toward 
each other. The talk was rather slow, as it went through 
many translations in passing between me and my host. Tea 
and smoke were of immense service in filling up the clunks. 

When 1 wished to say anything to the sargootchay I spoke 
in French to Major Boroslofski, who sat near me. 

The major then addressed his Bouriat interpreter in Rus- 
sian. 

This interpreter turned to a Mongol-Chinese official at his 
side and spoke to him in Mongol. 

The latter translated into Chinese for the understanding 
of his chief. 

The replies of the sargootchay returned by the same route. 
I have a suspicion that very little of what we really said ever 
reached its destination. His reply to one remark of mine 
had no reference to what I said, and the whole conversation 
was a curious medley of compliments. Our words were 
doubtless polarized more than once in transmission. 

We had tea and sweetmeats, the latter in great variety. 
The manner of preparing tea did not please me as well as 
the Russian one. The Chinese boil their tea and give it a 
bitter flavor that the Russians are careful to avoid. They 
drink it quite strong and hot, using no milk or sugar. Out 
of deference to foreign tastes they brought sugar for us to 
use at our liking. After the tea and sweetmeats the sargoot- 
chay ordered champagne, in which we drank each other's 
health. At the close of the interview I received invitation 



WORSHIPPING IN A TEMPLE. 309 

to dine with His Excellency two days later and witness a 
theatrical performance. 

Our adieus were made in the European manner, and after 
leaving the sargootchay we visited a temple in the northern 
part of the town. We passed through a large yard and 
wound among so many courts and colonnades that I should 
have been sorely puzzled to find my way out alone. The 
public buildings of Maimaichin are not far from each other, 
but the routes between them are difficult for one whose ideas 
of streets were formed in American cities. On passing the 
theatre we were shown two groups larger than life in rooms 
on opposite sides of a covered colonnade. They were cut in 
sand-stone, one representing a rearing horse which two 
grooms were struggling to hold. The other was the same 
horse walking quietly under control of one man. 

The figures evidently came from Greek history, and I had 
little doubt that they were intended to tell of Alexander and 
Bucephalus. I learned that the words ' Philip of Macedon' 
were the literal translation of the Chinese title of the groups. 
How or when the Celestials heard the story of Alexander, 
and why they should represent it in stone, I cannot imagine. 
No one could tell the age and origin of these works of art. 

On the walls of buildings near the temple there were paint- 
ings from Chinese artists, some of them showing a creditable 
knowledge of perspective. ' John' can paint very well when 
he chooses, and any one conversant with his skill will testify 
that he understands perspective. Why he does not make 
more use of it is a mystery that demands explanation. 

When we entered the temple it was sunset, and the gather- 
ing shadows rendered objects indistinct. From the character 
of the windows and the colonnades outside I suppose a ' dim 
religious light' prevails there at all times. The temple con- 
tains several idols or representations of Chinese deities in 
figures larger than life, dressed with great skill and literally 
gotten up regardless of expense. Their garments were of 
the finest silk, and profusely ornamented with gold, silver, 
and precious stones. 



310 LOCKED IN FOR THE NIGHT. 

There were the gods of justice, peace, war, agriculture, 
mechanics, love, and prosperity. The god of love had a 
most hideous countenance, quite in contrast to that of the 
gentle Cupid with whom the majority of my readers are 
doubtless familiar. The god of war brandished a huge 
sword, and reminded me of the leading tragedian of the 
Bowery Theatre ten years ago. The temple was crowded 
with idols, vases, censers, pillars, and other objects, and it 
was not easy for our party to move about. In the middle of 
the apartment there were tables supporting offerings of cooked 
fowls and other edibles. These articles are eaten by the at- 
tendants at the temple, but whether the worshippers know 
this fact or believe their gods descend to satisfy their appe- 
tites, I cannot say. 

To judge from what I saw the Chinese are accustomed to 
decorate their houses of worship at great cost. There were 
rich curtains and a thousand and one articles of more or less 
value filling the greater part of the temple. Lanterns and 
chandeliers displayed the skill and patience of the Chinese 
in manipulating metals. There were imitations of butter- 
flies and other insects, and of delicate leaves and flowers in 
metal, painted or burnished in the color of the objects repre- 
sented. The aggregate time consumed in the manufacture 
of these decorations must be thousands of years. In a sus- 
pended vase I saw one boquet which was a clever imitation 
of nature, with the single .exception of odor. The Chinese 
make artificial roses containing little cups which they fill 
with rose-water. 

On our return we found the gate closed, and were obliged 
to wait until the ponderous key was brought to open it. The 
officer controlling the gate made no haste, and we were de- 
layed in a crowd of Chinese men and dogs for nearly fifteen 
minutes. It was a peculiar sensation to be shut in a Chinese 
town and fairly locked in. It is the custom to close the gates 
of Kiachta and Maimaichin and shut off all communication 
between sunset and sunrise. The rule is less rigidly enforced 
than formerly. 




JNTEKTOR OF CHINESE TEMPLE 



RAMBLES IN MAIMAICHIN. 311 

After this introduction I visited Maimaichin almost every 
day until leaving for Irkutsk. Maimaichin means ' place of 
trade,' and the name was given by the officer who selected 
the site. The town is occupied by merchants, laborers, and 
government employees, all dwelling without families. The 
sargootchay is changed every three years, and it was hinted 
that his short term of office sufficed to give him a fortune. 

The houses were only one story high and plastered with 
black mud or cement. The streets cross at right angles, but 
are not very long, as the town does not measure more than 
half a mile in any direction. At the intersection of the 
principal streets there are towers two or three stories high, 
overlooking the town, and probably intended for use of the 
police. Few houses are entered directly from the street, 
most of them having court yards with gateways just wide 
enough for a single cart or carriage. The dwelling rooms 
and magazines open upon the court yards, which are provided 
with folding gates heavily barred at night. 

Apart from the public buildings the houses were pretty 
much alike. Every court yard was liberally garnished with 
dogs of the short-nosed and wide-faced breed peculiar to 
China. They were generally chained and invariably made 
an unpleasant tumult. The dwelling rooms, kitchens, and 
magazines had their windows and doors upon the yards, the 
former being long and low with small panes of glass, talc, or 
oiled paper. In the magazines there were generally two 
apartments, one containing most of the goods, while the 
other was more private and only entered by strangers upon 
invitation. At the end of each room there was a divan, 
where the inmates slept at night or sat by day. ' Near the 
edge of the divan was a small furnace, where a charcoal fire 
burned constantly. The rooms were warmed by furnaces 
with pipes passing beneath the divans or by Russian stoves. 

In every place I visited there were many employees, and I 
did not understand how all could be kept busy. Everything 
was neat and well arranged, and the Chinese appeared very 
particular c i the subject of dust. I attempted to buy a few 



312 PEINCIPLES OP CHINESE HONESTY. 

souvenirs of my visit, but very little was to be purchased. 
Few strangers come to Maimaichin, and the merchants have 
no inducement to keep articles rarely called for. 

I found they were determined to make me pay liberally. 
" How much ? " I asked on picking up an article in one of 
their shops. " Chetira ruble" (four roubles) was the reply. 
My Russian companion whispered me not to buy, and after a 
few moments chaffering we departed. In a neighboring shop 
I purchased something precisely similar for one rouble, and 
went away rejoicing. On exhibiting my prize at Kiachta I 
learned that I paid twice its real value. ■ 

The Chinese merchants are frequently called scoundrels 
from their habit of overreaching when opportunity occurs. 
In some respects they are worse and in others better than the 
same class of men in Western nations. The practice of ask- 
ing much more than they expect to receive prevails through- 
out their empire, and official peculation confined in certain 
limits is considered entirely consistent with honesty. Their 
cheating, if it can be called by that name, is conducted on 
certain established principles. A Chinese will ' beat about 
the bush,' and try every plan to circumvent the man with 
whom he deals, but when he once makes a bargain he ad- 
heres to it unflinchingly. Among the merchants I was told 
that a word is as good as a bond. Their slipperiness. is con- 
fined to preliminaries. 

China contains good and bad like other countries, but in 
some things its merchants rank higher than outside barba- 
rians. When the English were at war with the Viceroy of 
Canton, the foreigners were driven out and compelled to 
leave much property with Chinese merchants. These Chi- 
nese never thought of repudiation, but on the contrary made 
their way to Hong Kong during the blockade of the Canton 
river for the purpose of settling with the foreigners. 

Old John Bell of Antermony, who traveled to Pekin in the 
reign of Peter the Great, in the suite of a Russian Ambassa- 
dor, makes the following observations on the Chinese : 

" They are honest, and observe the strictest honor and jus- 



HOSPITALITY OF MERCHANTS. 313 

tice in their dealings. It must, however, be acknowledged 
that not a few of them are much addicted to knavery and 
well skilled in the art of cheating. They have, indeed, found 
many Europeans as great proficients in that art as them- 
selves." 

In the shops at Maimaichin there is no display of goods, 
articles being kept in closets, drawers, show-cases, and on 
shelves, whence they are taken when called for. This ar- 
rangement suggests the propriety of the New York notice : 
" If you don't see what you want, ask for it." Many things 
are kept in warerooms in other parts of the building, and 
brought when demanded or the merchant thinks he can effect 
a sale. In this way they showed me Thibet sheep skins, in- 
tended for lining dressing-gowns, and of the most luxurious 
softness. There were silks and other goods in the piece, but 
the asking prices were very high. I bought a few small ar- 
ticles, but was disappointed when I sought a respectable as- 
sortment of knick-knacks. 

One of the merchants admired my watch and asked through 
my Russian friend how much it cost. I was about to say in 
Russian, ' two hundred roubles,' when my friend checked me. 

" Dites un enorme prix ; deux mille roubles au moins." 

Accordingly I fixed the price at two thousand roubles. 
Probably the Chinaman learned the real value of the watch 
from this exaggerated figure better than if I had spoken as I 
first intended. 

The merchants were courteous and appeared to have plenty 
of time at command. They brought sweetmeats, confection- 
ery, and tea, in fact the latter article was always ready. 
They gave us crystalized sugar, resembling rock candy, for 
sweetening purposes, but themselves drank tea without sugar 
or milk. They offered us pipes for smoking, and in a few in- 
stances Russian cigarettes. I found the Chinese tobacco 
very feeble and the pipes of limited capacity. It is doubtless 
owing to the weakness of their tobacco that they can smoke 
so continuously. The pipe is in almost constant requisition, 
the operator swallowing the smoke and emitting it in a dou- 



314 



PIGEON-EUSSIAN AND CHINESE. 




THROUGH ORDINARY ETES. 



ble stream through his nostrils. They rarely offered us Chi- 
nese wine, as that article is repugnant to any but Celestials. 
Sometimes they brought sherry and occasionally champagne. 
I was interested in studying the decorations on window 
screens and fans, and the various devices on the walls. The 

Chinese mind runs to 
the hideous in nearly 
everything fanciful, 
and most of its works 
of art abound in grif- 
fins and dragons. 
Even the portrait of 
a tiger or other wild 
beast is made to look 
worse than the most 
savage of his tribe. If there ever was a dog with a mouth 
such as the Chinese artists represent on their canines, he 

could walk down his 



own throat with very 
little difficulty. 

The language spok 
en in the intercourse 
of Russians and Chi 
nese at Kiachta is a 
mongrel tongue in 
which Russian pre 
dominates. It is a 
i pigeon- Russian ' exactly analagous to the ' pigeon- English' 
of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. The Chinese 
at Maimaichin can reckon in Russian and understand the ru- 
diments of that language very well. I observed at Maimai- 
chin, as at San Francisco, the tendency to add an i e' sound 
to monosyllabic consonant words. A Chinese merchant grew 
familiar during one of my visits, and we exchanged lingual 
lessons and cards. He held up a tea-spoon and asked me its 
name. I tried him repeatedly with ' spoon,' but he would 
pronounce it ' spoonee' in spite of my instructions. When I 




THROUGH CHINESE ETES 



THE ABACUS AND ITS USES. 315 

gave him a card and called it such, he pronounced it ' cardee.' 
His name was Chy-Ping-Tong, or something of the kind, but 
I was no more able to speak it correctly than was he to say 
' spoon.' He wrote his name in my note-book and I wrote 
mine in his. Beyond the knowledge of possessing chiro- 
graphic specimens of another language, neither party is 
wiser. 

Whoever has visited St. Petersburg or Moscow has doubt- 
less seen the abacus, or calculating machine used in Russian 
shops. It is found throughout the empire from the German 
frontier to Bering's Straits, not only in the hands of mer- 
chants but in many private houses. It consists of a wooden 
frame ordinarily a foot long and six inches wide. There are 
ten metal wires strung across this frame, and ten balls of 
wood on each wire. The Russian currency is a decimal one, 
and by means of this machine computations are carried on 
with wonderful rapidity. I have seen numbers added by a 
boy and a machine faster than a New York bank teller could 
make the same reckoning. It requires long practice to be- 
come expert in its use, but when once learned it is preferred 
by all merchants, whether native or foreign. 

I saw the same machine at Maimaichin, and learned that 
it was invented by the Chinese. The Celestials of San Fran- 
cisco employ it in precisely the same manner as their coun- 
trymen in Mongolia. 

Beside the Chinese dwellers in Maimaichin there are many 
Mongol natives of the surrounding region, most of them en- 
gaged in transporting merchandise to and from the city. I 
saw several trains of their little two-wheeled carts bringing 
tea from the southward or departing with Russian merchan- 
dise ; and in one visit I encountered a drove of camels on 
the neutral ground. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

I HAVE already mentioned the prevalence of feast-days, 
both national and personal. During my stay in Kiachta 
there were several of these happy occasions, and I was told 
they would last the entire winter. One man opened his 
house on his name's day, and another on that of his wife. 
A third received friends on the anniversary of his daughter's 
birth, and a fourth had a regular house-warming. Each 
kept open mansion in the forenoon and greeted all who came. 
There was a grand dinner in the afternoon, followed by a 
soiree dansance and a supper at a late hour. In a population 
like that of Kiachta there is a weekly average of at least 
three feast days for the entire year. During my stay Major 
Boroslofski had a morning reception on the anniversary of the 
death of a child, but there was naturally neither dinner nor 
dance after it. 

The dinner and dancing parties were much alike, the same 
company being present at all. Even the servants were the 
same, there being a regular organization to conduct house- 
hold festivities. At the first dinner I attended there were 
about forty persons at table, all of the sterner sex. Accord- 
ing to the custom among Russian merchants the ladies were 
by themselves in another room. Between their apartment 
and ours there was a large room, corresponding, as I thought, 
to the neutral ground between Kiachta and Maimaichin. 
Doors were open, and though nobody occupied the terre neu- 
trale during dinner, both parties retired to it at the end of 
the meal. 

The dinner would have been a success in St. Petersburg or 

(316) 



NOVEL SEPARATION OF SEXES. 317 

Paris ; how much more was it a triumph on the boundary 
between China and Siberia. Elegant and richly furnished 
apartments, expensive table ware, and a profusion of all pro- 
curable luxuries, were the attractions of the occasion. We 
had apples from European Russia, three thousand miles west- 
ward, and grapes from Pekin, a thousand miles to the south. 
There were liberal quantities of dried and preserved fruits, 
and the wines were abundant and excellent. Of the local 
productions we had many substantial, till all appetites were 
satisfied. 

According to Russian custom the host does not partake of 
the dinner, but is supposed to look after the welfare of his 
guests. At Kiachta I found this branch of etiquette carefully 
observed. Two or three times during the dinner the host 
passed around the entire table and filled each person's glass 
with wine. Where he found an unemptied cup he urged its 
drainage. 

After we left the table tea was served, and I was fain to 
pronounce it the best I ever tasted. The evening entertain- 
ments for those who did not dance consisted of cards and 
conversation, principally the former. Tea was frequently 
passed around, and at regular intervals the servants brought 
glasses of iced champagne. 

The houses of the Kiachta merchants are large and well 
built, their construction and adornment requiring much out- 
lay. Nearly all the buildings are of two stories and situated 
in large court yards. There is a public garden, evidently 
quite gay and pretty in summer. The church is said to be 
the finest edifice of the kind in Eastern Siberia. The double 
doors in front of the altar are of solid silver, and said to 
weigh two thousand pounds avoirdupois. Besides these doors 
I think I saw nearly a ton of silver in the various parapher- 
nalia of the church. There were several fine paintings ex- 
ecuted in Europe at heavy cost, and the floors, walls, and 
roof of the entire structure were of appropriate splendor. 
The church was built at the expense of the Kiachta mer- 
chants. 



318 AN INJURIOUS TREATY. 

Troilskosavsk contains some good houses, but they are not 
equal in luxury to those at Kiachta. Many dwellings in the 
former town are of unpainted logs, and each town has its 
gastinni-dvor, spacious and well arranged. I visited the 
market place every morning and saw curious groups of Rus- 
sians, Bouriats, Mongols, and Chinese, engaged in that little 
commerce which makes the picturesque life of border towns. 

From 1727 to 1860 the Kiachta merchants enjoyed almost 
a monopoly of Chinese trade. Fortunes there are estimated 
at enormous figures, and one must be a four or five-million- 
aire to hold respectable rank. Possibly many of these world- 
ly possessions are exaggerated, as they generally are every- 
where. The Chinese merchants of Maimaichin are also re- 
puted wealthy, and it is quite likely that the trade was equally 
profitable on both sides of the neutral ground. Money and 
flesh have affinities. These Russian and Chinese Astors were 
almost invariably possessed of fair, round belly, with good 
capon lined. They have the spirit of genuine hospitality, 
and practice it toward friends and strangers alike. 

The treaty of 1860, which opened Chinese ports to Rus- 
sian ships, was a severe blow to Kiachta and. Maimaichin. 
Up to that time only a single cargo of tea was carried an- 
nually into Russia by water ; all the rest of the herb used in 
the empire came by land. Unfortunately the treaty was 
made just after the Russian and Chinese merchants had con- 
cluded contracts in the tea districts ; these contracts caused 
great losses when the treaty went into effect, and for a time 
paralized commerce. Kiachta still retains the tea trade of 
Siberia and sends large consignments to Nijne Novgorod and 
Moscow. There is now a good percentage of profit, but the 
competition by way of Canton and the Baltic has destroyed 
the best of it. Under the old monopoly the merchants ar- 
ranged high prices and did not oppose each other with quick 
and low sales. 

The Kiachta teas are far superior to those from Canton and 
Shanghae. They come from the best districts of China and 
are picked and cured with great care. There is a popular 



CUSTOMS OF THE MERCHANTS. 



319 



notion, which the Russians encourage, that a sea voyage in- 
jures tea, and this is cited as the reason for the character of 
the herb brought to England and America. I think the no- 
tion incorrect, and believe that we get no first class teas in 
America because none are sent there. I bought a small 
package of the best tea at Kiachta and brought it to New 
York. When I opened it I could not perceive it had changed 
at all in flavor. I have not been able to find its like in Ame- 
rican tea stores. 

Previous to 1850 all trade at Kiachta was in barter, tea 
being exchanged for Russian goods. The Russian govern- 
ment prohibited the export of gold and silver money, and 
various subterfuges were adopted to evade the law. Candle- 
sticks, knives, idols, and other articles were made of pure 
gold and sold by weight. Of course the goods were " of Rus- 
sian manufacture." 

Before 1860 the importation of tea at Kiachta was about 
one million chests annually, and all of good quality and not 
including brick tea. The "brick tea" of Mongolia and 
Northern China is made from 
stalks, large leaves, and refuse 
matter generally. This is 
moistened with sheep's or bul 
lock's blood and pressed into 
brick-shaped cakes. When 
dried it is ready for transpor- 
tation, and largely used by the 
Mongols, Bouriats, Tartars, and 
the Siberian peasantry. In some parts of Chinese Tartary it 
is the principal circulating medium of the people Large 
quantities are brought into Siberia, but " brick-tea " never 
enters into the computation of Kiachta trade. 

Since 1860 the quantity of fine teas purchased at Kiachta 
has greatly fallen off. The importation of brick-tea is undi- 
minished, and some authorities say it has increased. 

None of the merchants speak any language but Russian, 
and most of them , are firmly fixed at Kiachta. They make 




LEGAL TENDER. 



320 FOREIGN RESIDENTS. 

now and then journeys to Irkutsk, and regard such a feat 
about as a countryman on the Penobscot would regard a visit 
to Boston. The few who have been to Moscow and St. Peters- 
burg have a reputation somewhat analogous to that of Marco 
Polo or John Ledyard. Walking is rarely practiced, and the 
numbers of smai't turnouts, compared to the population, is 
pretty large. There is no theatre, concert-room, or news- 
paper office at Kiachta, and the citizens rely upon cards, wine, 
and gossip for amusement. They play much and win or lose 
large sums with perfect nonchalance. Visitors are rare, and 
the advent of a stranger of ordinary consequence is a great 
sensation. 

Kiachta and Maimaichin stand on the edge of a Mongolian 
steppe seven or eight miles wide. Very little snow falls there 
and that little does not long remain. "Wheeled carriages are 
in use the entire year. The elevation is about twenty-five 
hundred feet above sea level. 

There was formerly a custom house at Troitskosavsk, where 
the duties on tea were collected. After the occupation of 
the Amoor the government opened all the country east of 
Lake Baikal to free trade. The custom house was removed 
to Irkutsk, where all duties are now arranged. 

There were two Englishmen and one Frenchman residing 
at Kiachta. The latter, Mr. Gamier, was a merchant, and 
was about to marry a young and pretty Russian whose mother 
had a large fortune and thirteen dogs. The old lady appeared 
perfectly clear headed on every subject outside of dogs. A 
fortnight before my visit she owned fifteen, but the police 
killed two on a charge of biting somebody. She was incon- 
solable at their loss, took her bed from grief, and seriously 
contemplated going into mourning. I asked Gamier what 
would be the result if every dog of the thirteen should have 
his day. " Ah ! " he replied, with a sigh, " the poor lady 
could never sustain it. I fear it would cause her death." 

One Englishman, Mr. Bishop, had a telegraph scheme 
which he had vainly endeavored for two years to persuade 
the stubborn Chinese to look upon with favor. The Chinese 



THE DEVIL AND 1 THE TELEGRAPH. 321 

hare a superstitious dread of the electric telegraph, and the 
govern- 
ment is un- 
willing t o 
do any- 
thing not 
i n accord- 
ance with 
the will of 
the people. 
A few 
years ago 
some Ame- 
ricans at 
Shanghae 
thought it a 
good specu- 
lation to 
construct a 
telegraph 
line be- 
tween that 
city and the 
mouth of 
the river. 
The dis- 
tance was 
about fif- 
teen miles, 
and the line 
when fin- 
ished ope- 
rated satis- 
factorily. 
The Chi- 
nese made 

no interference, either officially or otherwise, with its con- 
21 




322 FASHIONABLE GAMBLING. 

struction. They did not understand its working, but suppos- 
ed the foreigners employed agile and invisible devils to run 
along the wires and convey intelligence. All went well for 
a month or two. One night a Chinese happened to die sud- 
denly in a house that stood near a telegraph pole. A know- 
ing Celestial suggested that one of the foreign devils had 
descended from the wire and killed the unfortunate native. 
A mob very soon destroyed the dangerous innovation. 

The other Englishman, Mr. Grant, was the projector and 
manager of a Pony Express from Kiachta to Pekin. He 

forwarded telegra m s 
~ ifcs between London and 
Shanghae merchants, 
or any others who 
gg gpl l chose to employ him. 
He claimed that his 
Mongol couriers made 
the journey to Pekin 
in twelve days, and 
that he could outstrip 
the Suez and Ceylon 
telegraph and steam- 
ers. He seemed a permanent fixture of Kiachta, as he had 
married a Russian lady, the daughter of a former governor. 
All these foreigners placed me under obligations for various 
favors, and the two Britons were certainly more kind to me 
than to each other. 

I spent an evening at the club-rooms, where there was 
some heavy card-playing. One man lost nine hundred roubles 
in half an hour, and they told me that such an occurrence 
was not uncommon. In all card playing I ever witnessed in 
Russia there was ' something to make it interesting.' Money 
is invariably staked, and the Russians were surprised when 
I said, in answer to questions, that people in America gen- 
erally indulged in cards for amusement alone. Ladies had 
no hesitation in gambling, and many of them followed it 
passionately. ' Qhaque pays a sa habitude,'' remarked a lady 




PONT EXPRESS. 



CRIMINALS UNDERGOING PUNISHMENT, 



323 




CHINESE COLLAE 



one evening when I answered her query about card playing 
in America. It was the Russian fashion to gamble, and no 
one dreamed of making the slightest concealment of it. 
Though. I saw it repeatedly I could never rid myself of a de- 
sire to turn away when a lady was reckoning her gains and 
losses, and keeping her accounts on the table cover. Russian 
card tables are covered with green cloth and provided with 
chalk pencils and brushes for players' use. Cards are a gov- 
ernment monopoly. 

On the day fixed for my dinner with the sargoochay I ac- 
companied the Police Master and Captain 
Molostoff to Maimaichin. As we entered the 
court yard of the government house several 
officers came to receive us. In passing the 
temple of Justice I saw an unfortunate wretch 
undergoing punishment in a corner of the 
yard. He was wearing a collar about three 
feet in diameter and made of four inch plank. 
It was locked about his neck, and the man was unable to 
bring his hand to his head. A crowd was gazing at the 
culprit, but he seemed quite unconcerned and 
intent upon viewing the strangers. The Chi- 
nese have a system of yokes and stocks that 
seem a refinement of cruelty. They — 
have a cheerful way of confining a man ^=f 
in a sort of cage about 
three feet square, the top 
and bottom being of plank 
and the sides of square 
sticks. His head passes 
through the top, which 
forms a collar precisely 
like the one described 
above, while the sides are 
just long enough to force 
him to stand upon the tip 
of his toes or hang suspended by his head. In some in- 




SUSPENDED FREEDOM. 



324 DINING WITH THE SARGOOCHAY. 

stances a prisoner's head is passed through a hole in the bot- 
tom of a heavy cask. He cannot stand erect without lifting 
the whole weight, and the cask is too long to allow him to sit 




PUNISHMENT FOR BURGLARY. 

down. He must remain on his knees in a torturing position, 
and cannot bring his hands to his head. He relies on his 
friends to feed him, and if he has no friends he must starve. 
The jailers think it a good joke when a man loses the num- 
ber of his mess in this way. 

The sargoochay met us in the apartment where our recep- 
tion took place. He seated us around a table in much the 
same manner as before. While we waited dinner I exhibited 
a few photographs of the Big Trees of California, which I 
took with me at Molostoff 's suggestion. I think the repre- 
sentative of His Celestial Majesty was fairly astonished on 
viewing these curiosities. The interpreter told him that all 
trees in America were like those in the pictures, and that we 
had many cataracts four or five miles high. 

To handle our food we had forks and chopsticks, and each 

\ 



SOY, SAM- SHOO, AND EOAST PIG, 



325 



guest had a small saucer of soy, or vinegar, at his right hand. 

The food was roast pig and roast duck, cut into bits the size 

of one's thumb nail, and each piece was to be dipped in the 

vinegar before going into the 

mouth. Then there were dishes 

of hashed meat or stew, followed 

by minced pies in miniature. I 

was a little suspicious of the last 

articles and preferred to stick to 

the pig. 

We had good claret and bad 
sherry, followed by Chinese wine. 
Champagne was brought when we 
began drinking toasts. Chinese 
wine, sam-shoo, is drank hot, from 
cups holding about a thimblefull. 
It is very strong, one cup being 
quite sufficient. The historic 
Bowery boy drinking a glass of 
Chinese wine might think he had 
swallowed a pyrotechnic display 
on Fourth of July night. 

We conversed as before, going 
through English, French, Russian, Mongol, and Chinese, and 
after dinner smoked our pipes and cigars. The sargoochay 
had a pipe with a slender bowl that could be taken out for 
reloading, like the shell of a Remington rifle. A single whiff 
served to exhaust it, and the smoke passing through water 
became purified. An attendant stood near to manage the 
pipe of His Excellency whenever his services were needed. 
We endeavored to smoke each others' pipes and were quite 
satisfied after a minute's experience. His tobacco was very 
feeble, and I presume mine was too strong for his taste. 

The sargoochay had ordered a theatrical display in my 
honor, though it was not ' the season,' and the affair was 
hastily gotten up. When all was ready he led the way to 
the theatre ; the pipe-bearer came respectfully in our rear, 



CHOPSTICKS, FORK, & SATJCEK. 



326 



AN ORIENTAL THEATRE. 



and behind him was the staff and son of the sargoochay. 
The stage of the theatre faced an open court yard, and was 
provided with screens and curtains, but had no scenery that 




CHINESE THEATRE. 



could be shifted. About thirty feet in front of the stage was 
a pavilion of blue cloth, open in front and rear. We were 
seated around a table under this pavilion, and drank tea and 
smoked while the performance was in progress. There was 
a crowd of two or three hundred Chinese between the pavil- 
ion and the stage. The Mongol soldiers kept an open pass- 
age five or six feet wide in front of us so that we had an un- ( 
obstructed view. 

A comedy came first, and I had little difficulty in following 



A PROCESSION OF ANIMALS. 



327 



the story by the pantomime alone. Female characters were 
represented by men, Chinese law forbidding women to act on 
the stage. Certain parts of the play were open to objections 
on account of immodesty, but when no ladies are present I 
presume a Chinese audience is not fastidious. The comedy 
was followed by something serious, of which I was unable to 
learn the name. I supposed it represented the superiority of 
the deities over the living things of earth. 

First, there came representations of different animals. 
There were the tiger, bear, leopard, and wolf, with two or 
three beasts whose genera and species I could not determine. 
There was an ostrich and an enormous goose, both holding 
their heads high, while a crocodile, or something like it, 
brought up the rear. Each beast and bird was made of 
painted cloth over light framework, with a man inside to 
furnish action. While the tiger was making himself savage 
the mask fell off, and 
revealed the head of 
a Chinese. A rent in 
the skin of the ostrich 
disclosed the arm of 
the performer inside. 
The animals were not 
very well made, and 
the accident to the 
tiger's head reminded 
me of the Bowery ele- 
phant whose hind legs 
became very drunk and fell among the orchestra, leaving the 
fore legs to finish the play. 

Each animal made a circuit of the stage, bowed to the sar- 
goochay, and retired. Then came half a dozen performers, 
only one being visible at a time. They were dressed, as I 
conjectured, to represent Chinese divinities, and as each ap- 
peared upon the stage he made a short recitation in a bom- 
bastic tone. The costumes of these actors were brilliantly 
decorated with metal ornaments, and there was a luxuriance 




CHINESE TIGER. 



328 RUSSIAN OFFICIALS AT KIACHTA. 

i 

of beard on most of the performer's faces, quite in contrast 
to the scanty growth which nature gave them. When the 
deities were assembled the animals returned and prostrated 
themselves in submission. A second speech from each actor 
closed the theatrical display. During all the time we sat 
under the pavilion the crowd looked at me far more intently 
than at the stage. An American was a great curiosity in the 
city limits of Maimaichin. 

The performance began about two o'clock and lasted less 
than an hour. At its close we thanked the sargoochay for 
his courtesy, and returned to Kiachta. One of my Russian 
acquaintances had invited me to dine with him ; " you can 
dine with the sargoochay at one o'clock," he said, " and will 
be entirely able to enjoy my dinner two hours later." I found 
the dinner at Maimaichin more pleasing to the eye than the 
stomach, and returned with a good appetite. 

Some years ago the Russian government abolished the of- 
fice of Governor of Kiachta and placed its military and kind- 
red affairs in the hands of the Chief of Police. Diplomatic 
matters were entrusted to a ' Commissary of the Frontier,' 
who resided at Kiachta, while the Chief of Police dwelt at 
Troitskosavsk. When I arrived there, Mr. Pfaffius, the Com- 
missary of the Frontier, was absent, though hourly expected 
from Irkutsk. 

Mr. Pfaffius arrived on the third day of my visit, and in- 
vited me to a dinner at his house on the afternoon of my de- 
parture for Irkutsk. As the first toast of the occasion he 
proposed the President of the United States, and regretted 
deeply the misfortune that prevented his drinking the health 
of Mr. Lincoln. In a few happy remarks he touched upon 
the cordial feeling between the two nations, and his utterance 
of good-will toward the United States was warmly applauded 
by all the Russians present. In proposing the health of the 
Emperor I made the best return in my power for the courtesy 
of my Muscovite friends. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

IN the year 1786 a vessel of three hundred and fifty tons 
burden sailed from an American port for Canton. She 
was the first to carry the flag of the United States to the 
shores of Cathay, and to begin a commerce that has since 
assumed enormous proportions. 'European nations had car- 
ried on a limited trade with the Chinese before that time, but 
they were restricted to a single port, and their jealousy of 
each other prevented their adopting those measures of co-op- 
eration that have recently proved so advantageous. China 
was averse to opening her territory to foreign merchants, and 
regarded with suspicion all their attempts to gain a foothold 
upon her soil. On the north, since 1727, the Russians had a 
single point of commercial exchange. In the south Canton 
was the only port open to those who came to China by sea, 
while along the coast-line, facing to the eastward, the ports 
were sealed against foreign intrusion. Commerce between 
China and the outer world was hampered by many restric- 
tions, and only its great profits kept it alive. But once fairly 
established, the barbarian merchants taught the slow-learning 
Chinese that the trade brought advantage to all engaged in 
it. Step by step they pressed forward, to open new ports and 
extend commercial relations, which were not likely to be dis- 
continued, if only a little time were allowed to show their 
value. 

As years rolled on, trade with China increased. For a 
long time the foreigners trading with China had no direct in- 
tercourse with the General Government, but dealt only with 
the local and provincial authorities. It was not until after 

(329) 



330 STEAM NAVIGATION OP CHINESE WATERS. 

the famous "Opium War" that diplomatic relations were 
opened with the court at Pekin, and a common policy adopted 
for all parts of the empire, in its dealings with the outer 
world. Considering the extremely conservative character of 
the Chinese, their adherence to old forms and customs, their 
general unwillingness to do differently from their ancestors, 
and the not over-amiable character of the majority of the 
foreigners that went there to trade, it is not surprising that 
many years were required for commercial relations to grow 
up and become permanent. The wars between China and 
the Western powers did more than centuries of peace could 
have done to open the Oriental eyes. Austria's defeat on 
the field of Sadowa advanced and enlightened her more than 
a hundred years of peace and victory could have done, at her 
old rate of progress. The victories of the allied forces in 
China, culminating in the capture of Pekin and dictation of 
terms by the foreign leaders, opened the way for a free inter- 
course between the East and West, and the immense advan- 
tages that an unrestricted commerce is sure to bring to an in- 
dustrious, energetic, and economical people. 

With a river-system unsurpassed by that of any other na- 
tion of the world, China relied upon navigation by junks, 
which crept slowly against the current when urged by strong 
winds, and lay idle or were towed or poled by men when 
calms or head-breezes prevailed. Of steam applied to pro- 
pulsion, she had- no knowledge, until steamboats of foreign 
construction appeared in her waters and roused the wonder 
of the oblique-eyed natives by their mysterious powers. The 
first steamboat to ascend a Chinese river created a greater 
sensation than did the Clermont on her initial voyage along 
the Hudson or her Western prototype, several years later, 
among the Indians of the upper Missouri.* In 1839 the first 

* A gentleman once described to me the sensation produced by the first steam 
vessel that ascended one of the Chinese rivers. " It was," said he, " a screw 
steamer, and we were burning anthracite coal that made no smoke. The cur- 
rent was about two miles an hour, and with wind and water unfavorable, the 
Chinese boats bound upward were slowly dragged by men pulling at long tow- 
lines. We steamed up the middle of the stream, going as rapidly as we dared 



TONNAGE OF STEAM VESSELS. 331 

steam venture was made in China. An English house placed 
a boat on the route between Canton and Macao, and adver- 
tised it to carry freight and passengers on stated days. For 
the first six months the passengers averaged about a dozen to 
each trip — half of them Europeans, and the rest natives. 
The second half-year the number of native patrons increased, 
and by the end of the second year the boat, on nearly every 
trip, was filled with Chinese. The trade became so lucrative 
that another boat was brought from England and placed on 
the route, which continued to be a source of profit until the 
business was overdone by opposition lines. As soon as the 
treaties permitted, steamers were introduced into the coasting- 
trade of China, and subsequently upon the rivers and other 
inland waters. The Chinese merchants perceived the im- 
portance of rapid and certain transportation for their goods 
in place of the slow and unreliable service of their junks, and 
the advance in rates was overbalanced by the increased facil- 
ities and the opportunities of the merchants to make six 
times as many ventures annually as by the old system. 

Probably there is no people in the world that can be called 
a nation of shop-keepers more justly than the Chinese ; thou- 
sands upon thousands of them are engaged in petty trade, 
and the competition is very keen. Of course, where there is 
an active traffic the profits are small, and any thing that can 
assist the prompt delivery of merchandise and the speedy 
transmission of intelligence, money, credits, or the merchant 
himself, is certain to be brought into full use. No accurate 
statistics are at hand of the number of foreign steamers now 
in China, but well-informed parties estimate the burden of 

■with our imperfect knowledge, and the necessity of constant sounding. Our 
propeller was quite beneath the water,-and so far as outward appearance went 
there was no visible power to move us. Chinamen are generally slow to mani- 
fest astonishment, and not easily frightened, but their excitement on that occa- 
sion was hardly within bounds. Men, women, and children ran to see the mon- 
ster, and after gazing a few moments a fair proportion of them took to their heels 
for safety. Dogs barked and yelped on all the notes of the chromatic scale, oc- 
casional boats' crews jumped to the shore, and those who stuck to their oars did 
their best to get out of our way." 



332 INCREASE OF COMMERCE. 

American counting and river-vessels at upward of thirty thou- 
sand Ions, while that of other nationalities is much larger. 
Steamboats, with a burden of more than ten thousand tons, 
are owned by Chinese merchants, and about half that quan- 
tity is the join! property of Chinese and foreigners. In man- 
aging their boats and watching the current expenses, the 
Chinese aro quite equal to the English and Americans, and 
are sometimes able to carry freight upon terms ruinous to 
foreign competitors. 

Foreign systems of banking and insurance have been 
adopted, and work successfully. The Chinese had a mode of 
banking long before the European nations possessed much 
knowledge of financial matters; and it is claimed that the 
first circulating-notes and bills-of-eredit ever issued had their 
origin during a monetary pressure at Pekin. But they wero 
so unprogressive that, when intercourse was opened with the 
Western World, they found their own system detective, and 
were forced to adopt the foreign innovation. Insurance com- 
panies wero first owned and managed by foreigners at tho 
open ports, and as soon as the plan of securing themselves 
against loss by casualties was understood by the Chinese 
merchants, they began to form companies on their own ac- 
count, and carry their operations to the interior of tho em- 
pire. All the intricacies of the insurance business — even to 
the formation of fraudulent companies, with imaginary offi- 
cers, and an explosion at a propitious moment — are fully un- 
derstood and practised by the Chinese. 

By the facilities which the advent of forcigi>ers has intro- 
duced to the Chinese, the native trade along the rivers and 
with the open ports has rapidly increased. On the rivers and 
along the coast the steamers and native boats are actively 
engaged, and the population of the open ports has largely in- 
creased in consequence of the attractions ottered to the peo- 
ple of all grades and professions. The greatest extension has 
been hi the foreign trade, which, from small beginnings, now 
amounts to more than nine hundred millions of dollars an- 
nually. Where formerly a dozen or more vessels crept into 



AMEEICAN DIPLOMACY. 333 

Canton yearly, there are now hundreds of ships and steamers 
traversing the ocean to and from the accessible points of the 
coast of the great Eastern Empire. America has a large 
share of this commerce with China, and from the little be- 
ginning, in 1786, she has increased her maritime service, un- 
til she now has a fleet of sailing ships second to none in the 
world, and a line of magnificent steamers plying regularly 
across the Pacific, and bringing the East in closer alliance 
with the West than ever before. 

Railways will naturally follow the steamboat, and an Eng- 
lish company is now arranging to supply the Chinese with a 
railway-system to connect the principal cities, and especially 
to tap the interior districts, where the water communications 
are limited. There is no regular system of mail-communica- 
tion in China; the Government transmits intelligence by 
means of couriers, and when merchants have occasion to 
communicate with persons at a distance they use private ex- 
presses. Foreign and native merchants, doing an extensive 
business, keep swift steamers, which they use as despatch- 
boats, and sometimes send them at heavy expense to transmit 
single messages. It has happened that, on a sudden change 
of markets, two or more houses in Hong Kong or Shanghae 
have despatched boats at the same moment ; and some inter- 
esting and exciting races are recorded in the local histories. 

The barriers of Chinese exclusion were broken down when 
the treaties of the past ten years opened the empire to for- 
eigners, and placed the name of China on the list of diplo- 
matic and treaty powers. The last stone of the wall that 
shut the nation from the outer world was overthrown when 
the court at Pekin sent an embassy, headed by a distinguished 
American, to visit the capitals of the Western nations, and 
cement the bonds of friendship between the West and the 
East. It was eminently fitting that an American should be 
selected as the head of this embassy, and eminently fitting, 
too, that the ambassador of the oldest nation should first visit 
the youngest of all the great powers of the world. America, 
just emerged from the garments of childhood, and with full 



33-1 PIGEON-ENGLISH. 

pride and consciousness of its youthful strength, presents to 
ruddy England, smiling France, and the other members of 
the family of nations, graybcard and dignified China, who 
expresses joy at the introduction, and hopes for a better ac- 
quaintance in the years that are to come. 

During his residence at Pckin, Mr. Burlingamc interested 
himself in endeavoring to introduce the telegraph into China, 
and though meeting with opposition on account of certain 
superstitions of the Chinese, he was ultimately successful. 
The Chinese do not understand the working of the telegraph 
— at least the great majority of them do not — and like many 
other people elsewhere, with regard to any thing incompre- 
hensible, they are inclined to ascribe it to a satanic origin. 
In California, the Chinese residents make a liberal use of the 
telegraph ; though they do not trouble themselves with an 
investigation of its workings, they fully appreciate its import- 
ance. John, in California, is at liberty to send his messages 
in " pigeon-English," and very funny work he makes of it 
occasionally. Chin Lung, in Sacramento, telegraphs to Ming 
Yup,in San Francisco, " You me send one piecee me trunk," 
which means, in plain language, " Send me my trunk." Mr. 
Yup complies with the request, and responds by telegraph, 
" Me you trunkee you sendee." The inventor of pigeon-Eng- 
lish is unknown, and it is well for his name that it has not 
been handed down ; he deserves the execration of all who 
are compelled to use the legacy he has left. It is just as 
difficult for a Chinese to learn pigeon-English as it would be 
to learn pure and honest English, and it is about as intelligi- 
ble as Greek or Sanscrit to a newky-arrived foreigner. In 
Shanghae or Hong Kong, say to your Chinese ma-foo, who 
claims to speak English, " Bring me a glass of water," and 
he will not understand you. Repeat your order in those 
words, and he stands dumb and uncomprehending, as though 
you had spoken the dialect of the moon. But if you say, 
" You go me catchee bring one piecee glass water ; savey," 
and his tawny face beams intelligence as he obeys the order. 

In the phrase, " pigeon-English," the word pigeon means 



CHINA FREE TO TRAVELERS. 335 

" business," and the expression would be more intelligible if 
it were " business-English." Many foreigners living in China 
have formed the habit of using this and other words in their 
Chinese sense, and sometimes one hears an affair of business 
called " a pigeon." A gentleman whom I met in China used 
to tell, with a great deal of humor, his early experiences with 
the language. 

" When I went to Shanghae," said he. " I had an introduc- 
tion to a prominent merchant, who received me very kindly, 
and urged me to call often at his office. A day or two later 
I called, and inquired for him. ' Won't be back for a week 
or two,' said the clerk ; ' he has gone into the country, about 
two hundred miles, after a little pigeon.' I asked no ques- 
tions, but as I bowed myself out, I thought, ' He must be a 
fool, indeed. Go two hundred miles into the country after a 
pigeon, and a little one at that ! He has lost his senses, if 
he ever possessed any.' " 

Nearly all the trade with China is carried on at the South- 
ern and Eastern ports, and comparatively few of the foreign 
merchants in China have ever been at Pekin, which was 
opened only a few years ago. But the war with the allied 
powers, the humiliation of the government, the successes of 
the rebels, and the threatened extinction of the ruling dy- 
nasty, led to important # changes of policy. The treaty of 
Tientsin, in 1860, opened the empire as it had never been 
open before. Foreigners could travel in China where they 
wished, for business or pleasure, and the navigable rivers 
were declared free to foreign boats. Pekin was opened to 
travelers but not to foreign merchants ; but it is probable that 
commerce will be carried to that city before long. There is 
an extensive trade at Tientsin, ninety miles south of the cap- 
ital, and when it becomes necessary to carry it to the doors 
of the palace of the Celestial ruler, the diplomats will not be 
slow to find a sufficient pretext for it. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE great cities of China are very much alike in their 
general features. None of them have wide streets, 
except in the foreign quarters, and none of them are clean ; 
in their abundance of dirt they can even excel New York, 
and it would be worth the while for the rulers of the Ameri- 
can metropolis to visit China and see how filthy a city can be 
made without half trying. The most interesting city in 
China is Pekin, for the reason that it has long been the capi- 
tal, and contains many monuments of the past greatness and 
the glorious history of the Celestial empire. Its temples are 
massive, and show that the Chinese, hundreds of years ago, 
were no mean architects ; its walls could resist any of the 
ordinary appliances of war before the invention of artillery, 
and even the tombs of its rulers are monuments of skill and 
patience that awaken the admiration of every beholder. 
Throughout China Pekin is reverentially regarded, and in 
many localities the man who has visited it is regarded as a 
hero. Though the capital, it is the most northern city of 
large population in the whole empire. 

Pekin is divided into the Chinese city and the Tartar one , 
the division was made at the time of the Tartar conquest, and 
for many years the two people refused to associate freely. A 
wall separates flae cities ; the gates through it are closed at 
night, and only opened when sufficient reason is given. If 
the party who desires to pass the gate can give no verbal ex- 
cuse he has only to drop some money in the hands of the 
gate-keeper, and the pecuniary apology is considered entirely 
satisfactory. Time has softened the asperities of Tartar and 

(336) 



TARTAR AND CHINESE PEKIN. 



337 



Chinese association, so that the two people mingle freely, and 
it is impossible for a stranger to distinguish one from the 
other. Many Chinese live in the Tartar town and transact 
business, and I fancy that they would not always find it easy 
to explain their pedigree, or, at all events, that of some of 
their children. The foreign legations are in the Tartar city, 
for the reason that the government offices are there, and also 
for the reason that it is the most pleasant, (or the least un- 
pleasant,) part of Pekin to reside in. All the embassies have 
spacious quarters, with the exception of the Russian one, 
which is the oldest ; when it was established there it was a 
great favor to be allowed any residence whatever. 

From the center gate between the Chinese and Tartar 
cities there is a street two or three miles long, and having 







%& m. 



f £$mj&0" 



PROVISION DEALER. 



the advantages of being wide, straight, and dirty. It is 
blocked up with all sorts of huckster's stalls and shops, and 
is kept noisy with the shouts of the people who have innu- 

22 



338 CHINESE RAT PEDDLERS AND JUGGLERS. 

merable articles for sale. Especially in summer is there a 
liberal assemblage of peddlers, jugglers, beggars, donkey 
drivers, merchants, idlers, and all the other professions and 
non-professions that go to make up a population. The ped- 
dlers have fruit and other edibles, not omitting an occasional 
string of rats suspended from bamboo poles, and attached to 
cards on which the prices, and sometimes the excellent qual- 
ities of the rodents, are set forth. It is proper to remark 
that the Chinese are greatly slandered on the rat question. 
As a people they are not given to eating these little animals ; 
it is only among the poorer classes that they are tolerated, 
and then only because they are the cheapest food that can be 
obtained. I was always suspicious when the Chinese urged 
me to partake of little meat pies and dumplings, whose com- 
ponents I could only guess at, and when the things were 
forced upon me I proclaimed a great fondness for stewed 
duck and chicken, which were manifestly all right. But I 
frankly admit that I do not believe they would have inveigled 
me into swallowing articles to which the European mind is 
prejudiced, and my aversion arose from a general repugnance 
to hash in all forms — a repugnance which had its origin in 
American hotels and restaurants. 

The jugglers are worth a little notice, more I believe than 
they obtain from their countrymen. They attract good au- 
diences along the great street of Pekin, but after swallowing 
enough stone to load a pack-mule, throwing up large bricks 
and allowing them to break themselves on his head, and 
otherwise amusing the crowd for half an hour or so, the poor 
necromancer cannot get cash enough to buy himself a dinner. 
Those who feel disposed to give are not very liberal, and their 
donations are thrown into the ring very much as one would 
toss a bone to a bull-dog. Sometimes a man will stand with 
a white painted board, slightly covered with thick ink, and 
while talking with his auditors he will throw off, by means 
of his thumb and fingers, excellent pictures of birds and 
fishes, with every feather, fin, and scale done with accuracy. 
Such genius ought to be rewarded, but it rarely receives pecu- 



BEGGING IN CHINA. 



339 



niary recognition enough to enable its possessor to dress de- 
cently. Other slight-of-hand performances abound ; the Chi- 
nese are very skillful at little games of thimble-rig and the 
like, and when a stranger chooses to make a bet on their 
operations they are sure to take in his money. In sword- 
swallowing and knife-throwing, the natives of the Flowery 
Kingdom are without rivals, and the uninitiated spectator can 
never understand how a man can make a breakfast of Asiatic 
cutlery without incurring the risk of dyspepsia. 

China is the paradise of beggars — I except Italy from the 
mendicant list — so far as numbers are concerned, though they 




CHINESE MENDICANTS. 



do not appear to flourish and live in comfort. There are 
many dwarfs, and it is currently reported at Pekin that they 
are produced and cultivated for the special purpose of asking 
alms. One can be very liberal in China at small expense, as 
the smallest coin is worth only one-fifteenth of a cent, and a 



340 A NOVEL LODGING HOUSE. 

shilling's worth of " cash" can be made to go a great way if 
the giver is judicious. Many of the beggars are blind, and 
they sometimes walk in single file under the direction of a 
chief ; they are nearly all musicians, and make the most hid- 
eous noises, which they call melody. Anybody with a sensi- 
tive, ear will pay them to move on where they will annoy 
somebody beside himself. Many of the beggars are almost 
naked, and they attract attention by striking their hands 
against their hips and shouting at the top of their voices. 
One day the wife of the French minister at Pekin gave some 
garments to those who were the most shabbily dressed ; the 
next morning they returned as near naked as ever, and some 
of them entirely so. 

Outside of the Tartar city there is a beggar's lodging house, 
which bears the name of " the House of the Hen's Feathers." 
It is a hall, with a floor of solid earth and a roof of thin 
laths caulked and plastered with mud. The floor is covered 
with a thick bed of feathers, which have been gathered in 
the markets and restaurants of Pekin, without much regard 
to their cleanliness. There is an immense quilt of thick felt 
the exact size of the hall, and raised and lowered by means 
of mechanism. When the curfew tolls the knell of parting 
day, the beggars flock to this house, and are admitted on pay- 
ment of a small fee. They take whatever places they like, 
and at an appointed time the quilt is lowered. Each lodger 
is at liberty to lie coiled up in the feathers, or if he has a 
prejudice in favor of fresh air, he can stick his head through 
one of the numerous holes that the coverlid, contains. 

A view of this quilt when the heads are protruding is sug- 
gestive of an appartment where dozens of dilapidated Chinese 
have been decapitated. All night long the lodgers keep up a 
frightful noise ; the proprietor, like the individual in the 
same business in New York, will tell you, " I sells the place 
to sleep, but begar, I no sells the sleep with it." The couch 
is a lively one, as the feathers are a convenient wjarren for a 
miscellaneous lot of living things not often mentioned in 
polite society. 



SMALL-FOOTED WOMEN. 



341 



In the southern cities of China one sees fewer women in 
the street than in the north. Those that appear in public are 
always of the poorer classes, and it is rare indeed that one 
can get a view of the famous small-footed women. The odi- 
ous custom of compressing the feet is much less common at 
Pekin than in the southern provinces. The Manjour emper- 
ors of China opposed it ever since their dynasty ascended the 
throne, and on several occasions they issued severe edicts 
against it. The Tartar and Chinese ladies that compose the 
court of the empresses have their feet of the natural size, and 
the same is the case with the wives of many of the officials. 
But such is the power of fashion that many of these ladies 
have adopted the theatrical slipper, which is very difficult to 
walk with. No one can tell where the custom of compress- 
ing the feet originated, but it is said that one of the empresses 
was born with deformed feet, and set the fashion, which soon 
spread through the empire. The jealousy of the men and 
the idleness and vanity of the women have served to continue 
the custom. Every 
Chinese who can af- 
ford it will have at 
least one small-footed 
wife, and she is main- 
tained in the most 
perfect indolence . 
For a woman to have 
a small foot is to show 
that she is of high 
birth and rich family, 
and she would con- 
sider herself dishon- 
ored if her parents 
failed to compress her feet. 

When remonstrated with about the practice, the Chinese 
retort by calling attention to the compression of the waist as 
practiced in Europe and America. " It is all a matter of 
taste," said a Chinese merchant one day when addressed on 




THE FAVORITE. 



342 



GAMBLING AMONG THE CELESTIALS. 



the subject.. " We like women with small feet and you like 
them with small waists. What is the difference ? " 
And what is the difference ? 

The compression is begun when a girl is six years old, and 
is accomplished with strong bandages. The great toe is 

pressed beneath . 
the others, and 
these are bent 
under, so that 
the foot takes 
the shape of a 
closed fist. The 
bandages are 
drawn tighter 
every month, 




FEMALE FEET AND SHOE. 



and in a couple 
of years the foot has assumed the desired shape and ceased 
to grow. 

Very often this compression creates diseases that are diffi- 
cult to heal ; it is always impossible for the small-footed wo- 
man to walk easily, and sometimes she cannot move with- 
out support. To have the finger-nails very long is also a 
mark of aristocracy ; sometimes the ladies enclose their nails 
in silver cases, which are very convenient for cleansing the 
ears of their owner or tearing out the eyes of somebody else. 

Walking along the great street of Pekin, one is sure to see 
a fair number of gamblers and gambling houses. Gambling 
is a passion with the Chinese, and they indulge it to a greater 
extent than any other people in the world. It is a scourge 
iii China, and the cause of a great deal of the poverty and 
degradation that one sees there. There are various games, 
like throwing dice, and drawing sticks from a pile, and there 
is hardly a poor wretch of a laborer who will not risk the 
chance of paying double for his dinner on the remote possi- 
bility of getting it for nothing. The rich are addicted to the 
vice quite as much as the poor, and sometimes they will lose 
their money, then their houses, their lands, their wives, their 



A VALUABLE PRIZE. 343 

children, and so on up to themselves, when they have nothing 
else that their adversaries will accept. The winter is severe 
at Pekin, and it sometimes happens that men who have lost 




A LOTTERY PRIZE. 



everything, down to their last garments, are thrust naked 
into the open air, where they perish of cold. Sometimes a 
man will bet his fingers on a game, and if he loses he must 



344 AETISTIC STYLE OF PUNISHMENTS. 

submit to have them chopped off and turned over to the 
winner. 

There is a tradition that one of the Chinese emperors used 
to get up lotteries, in which the ladies of the court were the 
prizes. He obtained quite a revenue from the business, which 
was popular with both the players and the prizes, as the lat- 
ter were enabled to obtain husbands without the trouble of 
negotiation. 

The lottery has a place in the Chinese courts of justice. 
There is one mode of capital punishment in which a dozen or 
twenty knives are placed in a covered basket, and each knife 
is marked for a particular part of the body. The executioner 
puts his hand under the cover and draws at random. If the 
knife is for the toes, they are cut off one after another ; if 
for the feet, they are severed, and so on until a knife for the 
heart or neck is reached. Usually the friends of the victim 
bribe the executioner to draw early in the game a knife whose 
wound will be fatal, and he generally does as he agrees. 
The bystanders amuse themselves by betting as to how long 
the culprit will stand it. Facetious dogs, those Chinese. 

To enumerate all the ways of inflicting punishment in 
China would be to fill a volume. Punishment is one of the 
fine arts, and a man who can skin another elegantly is en- 
titled to rank as an artist. The bastinado and floggings are 
common, and then they have huge shears, like those used in 
tin shops, for snipping off feet and arms, very much as a 
gardener would cut off the stem of a rose. 

Some years ago the environs of Tien-tsin were infested by 
bands of robbers who were suspected of living in villages a 
few miles away. The governor was ordered by the imperial 
authority to suppress these robberies, and in order to get the 
right persons he sent out his soldiers and arrested everybody, 
old and young, in the suspected villages. Of course there 
were innocent persons among the captives, but that made no 
difference ; some of them were blind, and others crippled, 
but the police had orders to bring in everybody. The prison- 
ers were summarily tried ; some of them had their heads cut 



CABS AND PALANQUINS. 



345 



off, others were imprisoned, and others were whipped. No- 
body escaped without some punishment ; the result was that 
the robber bands were broken up and the robberies ceased. 

It is not easy to go about Pekin. It is a city of magnifi- 
cent distances, and the sights which one wants to see are far 
apart. The streets are bad, being dusty in dry weather and 
muddy when it rains, and the carriage way is cut up with 
deep ruts that make riding very uncomfortable. The cabs 
of Pekin are little 
carts, just large 
enough for two per- 
sons of medium 
size. They are 
without springs, 
and not very neatly 
arranged inside. 
If one does not like 
them he can walk 
or take a palanquin 
— there are plenty 
of palanquins in the city, and they do not cost an exorbitant 
sum. They are not very commodious, but infinitely prefer- 
able to the carts. 
The comforts of 
travel are very 
few in China. A 
Chinese never 
travels for pleas- 
ure, and he does 
not understand 
the spirit that 
leads tourists 
from one end of 
the world to the 
other in search of 
adventure. When he has nothing to do he sits down, smokes 
his pipe, and thinks about his ancestors. He never rides, 




A CHINESE PALANQUIN. 




A PEKIN CAB. 



346 



TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS. 



walks, dances, or takes the least exercise for pleasure alone. 
It is business and nothing else that controls his movements. 
When an English ship touched at Hong Kong some years 
ago, the captain gave a ball to the foreign residents, and in- 
vited several Chinese merchants to attend the festivities. One 
heavy old merchant who had never before seen anything of 
the kind, looked on patiently, and when the dance was con- 
cluded he beckoned the captain to his side and asked if he 

could not get 
his servants to 
do that work 
and save him 
the trouble. 

One of the 
great curiosi- 
ties of Pekin is 
the temple of 
Confucius, 
where once a 
year the Em- 
peror worships 
the great sage 
without the in- 
tervention o f 
paintings or 
images. In 
the central 
shrine there is 
a small piece of 
wood, a few in- 
ches long, 
standing up- 
right and bear- 
ing the name 
of Confucius 

in Chinese characters. The temple contains several stone 
tablets, on which are engraved the records of honor conferred 




PRIEST IN TEMPLE OF CONFUCIUS. 



TEMPLE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 347 

on literary men, and it is the height of a Chinese scholar's 
ambition to win a place here. There are several fine trees 
in the spacious court yard, and they are said to have been 
planted by the Mongol dynasty more than five hundred years 
ago. The building is a magnificent one, and contains many 
curious relics of the various dynasties, some of them a thou- 
sand years old. The ceiling is especially gorgeous, and the 
tops of the interior walls are ornamented with wooden boards 
bearing the names of the successive emperors in raised gilt 
characters. As soon as an emperor ascends the throne he at 
once adds his name to the list. 

The Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth are also 
among the curiosities of Pekin. The former stands in an 
enclosed space a mile square, and has a great central pavilion, 
with a blue roof, and a gilt top that shines in the afternoon sun 
like the dome of St. Isaac's church at St. Petersburg. The 
enclosed space includes a park, beautifully laid out with av- 
enues of trees and with regular, well paved walks. In the 
park are some small buildings where the priests live, that is 
to say, they are small compared with the main structure, 
though they are really fine edifices. The great pavilion is 
on a high causeway, and has flights of steps leading up to it 
from different directions. The pavilion is three stories high, 
the eaves of each story projecting very far and covered with 
blue enameled tiles. An enormous gilt ball crowns the 
whole, and around the building there is a bewildering array 
of arches and columns, with promenades and steps of white 
marble, evincing great skill and care in their construction. 
Unfortunately, the government is not taking good care of the 
temple, and the grass is growing in many places in the crev- 
ices of the pavements. 

The Temple of Earth is where the emperor goes annually 
to witness the ceremony of opening the planting season, and 
to inaugurate it by ploughing the first furrow. The ceremony 
is an imposing one, and never fails to draw a large assem- 
blage. 

One of the most interesting objects in the vicinity of Pekin 



348 THE SUMMER PALACE. 

previous to 1860 was " Yuen-ming Yuen," or the summer 
palace of the emperor, Kien Loong. It was about eight 
miles northwest of the city, and bore the relation to Pekin 
that Versailles does to Paris. I say was, because it was rav- 
aged by the English and French forces in their advance upon 
the Chinese capital, and all the largest and best of the build- 
ings were burned.' The country was hilly, and advantage 
was taken of this fact, so that the park presented every va- 
riety of hill, dale, woodland, lawn, garden, and meadow, in- 
terspersed with canals, pools, rivulets, and lakes, with their 
banks in imitation of nature. The park contained about 
twelve square miles, and there were nearly forty houses for 
the residence of the emperor's ministers, each of them sur- 
rounded with buildings for large retinues of servants. The 
summer palace, or central hall of reception, was an elabor- 
ate structure, and when it was occupied by the French army 
thousands of yards of the finest silk and crape were found 
there. These articles were so abundant that the soldiers used 
them for bed clothes and to wrap around other plunder. The 
cost of this palace amounted to millions of dollars, and the 
blow was severely felt by the Chinese government. The 
park is still worth a visit, but less so than before the destruc- 
tion of the palace. 

In the country around Pekin there are many private bury- 
ing grounds belonging to families ; the Chinese do not, like 
ourselves, bury their dead in common cemeteries, but each 
family has a plot of its own. Sometimes a few families com- 
bine and own a place together ; they generally select a spot 
in a grove of trees, and make it as attractive as possible. 
The Chinese are more careful of their resting places after 
death than before it ; a wealthy man will live in a miserable 
hovel, but he looks forward to a commodious tomb beneath 
pretty shade trees. The tender regard for the dead is an ad- 
mirable trait in the Chinese character, and springs, no doubt, 
from that filial piety which is so deeply engraved on the Ori- 
ental mind. 

In Europe and America it is the custom not to mention 



REVERENCE FOR COFFINS. 



349 



coffins in polite society, and the contemplation of one is al- 
ways mournful. But in China a coffin is a thing to be made 
a show of, like a piano. In many houses there is a room set 
apart for the coffins of the members of the family, and the 
owners point 
them out with 



pride. They 
practice econ- 
omy to lay 
themselves out 
better than 
their rivals, 
and sometimes 
a man who has 
made a good 
thing by swin- 
dling or rob- 




COMFORTS AND CONVENIENCES. 



bing somebody, will use the profits in buying a coffin, just as 
an American would treat himself to a gold watch or diamond 
pin. The most elegant gift that a child can make to his sick 
father is a coffin 
that he has paid 
for out of his own 
labor; it is not con- 
sidered a hint to 
the old gentleman 
to hand in his 
checks and get out 
of the way, but 
rather as a mark of 
devotion which all 
good boys should 
imitate. The cof- 
fins are finely orna- 
mented, according to the circumstances of the owner, and I 
have heard that sometimes a thief will steal a fine one and 
commit suicide — first arranging with his friends to bury him 




FILIAL ATTENTION. 



350 HOW A CHINESE TAKES EEVENGE. 

in it before his theft is discovered. If he is not found out 
he thinks he has made a good thing of it. 

Whenever the Chinese sell ground for building purposes 
they always stipulate for the removal of the bones of their 
ancestors for many generations. The bones are carefully 
dug up and put in earthen jars, when they are sealed up, 
labeled, and put away in a comfortable room, as if they were 
so many pots of pickles and fruits. Every respectable family 
in China has a liberal supply of potted ancestors on hand, 
but would not part with them at any price. 

Nothing can surpass the calm resignation with which the 
Chinese part with life. They die without groans, and have 
no mental terror at the approach of death. Abbe Hue says 
that when they came for him to administer the last sacra- 
ments to a dying convert, their formula of saying that the 
danger was imminent, was in the words, " The sick man does 
not smoke his pipe." 

When a Chinese wishes to revenge himself upon another 
he furtively places a corpse upon the property of his enemy. 
This subjects the man on whose premises the body is found 
to many vexatious visits from the officials, and also to claims 
on the part of the relations of the dead man. The height 
of a joke of this kind is to commit suicide on another man's 
property in such a way as to appear to have been murdered 
there. This will subject the unfortunate object of revenge 
to all sorts of legal vexations, and not unfrequently to exe- 
cution. Suicide for revenge would be absurd in America, 
but is far from unknown at the antipodes. 




CHAPTER XXXI. 

IT was my original intention to make a journey from Kiachta 
to Pekin and back again, but the lateness of the season 
prevented me. I did not wish to be caught in the desert of 
Gobi in winter. I talked with several persons who had trav- 
ersed Mongolia, and among them a gentleman who had just 
arrived from the Chinese capital. I made many notes from 
his recital which I found exceedingly interesting. 

For a time the Chinese refused passports to foreigners wish- 
ing to cross Mongolia ; but on finding their action was likely 
to cause trouble, they gave the desired permission, though 
accompanying it with an intimation that the privilege might 
be suspended at any time. The bonds that unite Mongolia 
to the great empire are not very strong, the natives being 
somewhat indifferent to their rulers and ready at any decent 
provocation to throw- off their yoke. Though engaged in the 
peaceful pursuits of sheep-tending, and transporting freight 
between Russia and China, they possess a warlike spirit and 
are capable of being roused into violent action. They are 
proud of tracing their ancestry to the soldiers that marched 
with Genghis Khan, and carried his victorious banners into 
Central Europe ; around their fires at night no stories are 
more eagerly heard than those of war, and he who can relate 
the most wonderful traditions of daring deeds may be certain 
of admiration and applause. 

The first " outside barbarian," other than Russians, who 
attempted this overland journey, was a young French Count, 
who traveled in search of adventure. Proceeding eastward 
from St. Petersburg, he reached Kiachta in 1859. After 

(351) 



352 OUTSIDE OF PEKIN. 

some hesitation, the governor-general of Eastern Siberia ap- 
pointed him secretary to a Russian courier en route for Pekin. 
He made the journey without serious hindrance, but on reach- 
ing the Chinese capital his nationality was discovered, and 
he was forced to return to Siberia. 

From Pekin the traveller destined for Siberia passes through 
the northern gate amid clouds of dust or pools of mud, ac- 
cording as the day of his exit is fair or stormy. He meets 
long strings of carts drawn by mules, oxen, or ponies, carry- 
ing country produce of different kinds to be digested in the 
great maw of the Imperial city. Animals with pack-saddles, 
swaying under heavy burdens, swell the caravans, and nu- 
merous equestrians, either bestriding their steeds, or sitting 
sidewise in apparent carelessness, are constantly encountered. 
Now and then an unruly mule causes a commotion in the 
crowd by a vigorous use of his heels, and a watchful observer 
may see an unfortunate native sprawling on the ground in 
consequence of approaching too near one of the hybrid beasts. 
Chinese mules mil kick as readily as their American cousins ; 
and I can say from experience, that their hoofs are neither 
soft nor delicate. They can bray, too, in tones terribly dis- 
cordant and utterly destructive of sleep. The natives have 
a habit of suppressing their music when it becomes positively 

unbearable, and the 
means they employ may 
be worth notice. A Chi- 
naman says a mule can- 
not bray without elevat- 
ing his tail to a certain 
height ; so to silence the 
beast he ties a stone to 
that ornamental appen- 
dage, and depends upon 
the weight to shut off 
the sound. Out of compassion to the mule, he attaches 
the stone so that it rests upon the ground and makes no 
strain as long as the animal behaves himself. 




A MUSICAL STOP. 



TRAVELING IN A MULE-LITTER. 353 

A Chinese pack-mule will carry about four hundred pounds 
of dead weight, if properly adjusted. The loads are not 
lashed on the animals' backs, but simply balanced ; conse- 
quently, they must be very nicely divided and arranged on 
each side of the saddles. 

On the road from Pekin the track is so wretched, and the 
carts so roughly made, that journeying with wheeled vehicles 
is next to an impossibility. Travelers go on horseback— if 
their circumstances allow — and by way of comfort, especially 
if there be ladies in the party, they generally provide them- 
selves with mule-litters. The mule-litter is a goodly-sized 
palanquin, not quite long enough for lying at full length, but 
high enough to allow the passenger to sit erect. There is a 
box or false flooring in the bottom, to accommodate baggage 
in small parcels that can be easily stowed. A good litter has 
the sides stuffed to save the occupant from bruises ; and with 
plenty of straw and a couple of pillows, he generally finds 
himself quite comfortable. The body is fastened to two 
strong and flexible poles that extend fore and aft far enough 
to serve as shafts for a couple of mules. At the ends of the 
shafts their points are connected by stout bands of leather 
that pass over the saddles of the respective mules ; each band 
is kept in place by an iron pin fixed in the top of the saddle, 
and passing through a hole in the leather. As the shafts 
are long enough to afford the animals plenty of walking room, 
there is a good deal of spring to the concern, and the motion 
is by no means disagreeable. Sometimes the bands slip from 
the shafts, and in such case the machine comes to the ground 
with disagreeable thump ; if the traveler happens to be 
asleep at the time he can easily imagine he is being shot from 
a catapult. 

Just outside of Pekin there is a sandy plain, and beyond 
it a fine stretch of country under careful cultivation, the prin- 
cipal cereal being millet, that often stands ten or twelve feet 
high. Some cotton is grown, but the region is too far north 
to render its culture profitable. 

About twenty miles from Pekin is the village of Sha-ho, 
23 



354 THE G 11 EAT WALL OF CHINA. 

near two old stone bridges that span a river now nearly dried 
away. The village is a sort of half-way halting plaee bo- 
tween Pekin and the Nankow pass, a rocky dcfilo twelve or 
fifteen miles long. The hngo bonldcrs and angular fragments 
of stone have been somewhat worn down and smoothed by 
constant use, though they arc still capable of using up a good 
many mule-hoofs annually. With an eye to business, a few 
traveling farriers hang about this pass, and find occasional 
employment in setting shoes. Chinese shoeing, considered 
as a fine art, is very much in its infancy. Animals arc only 
shod when the nature of the service requires it ; the farriers 
do not attempt to make shoes to order, but they keep a stock 
of iron plates on hand, and select the nearest size they can 
find. They hammer the plate a little to fit it to the hoof 
and then fasten it on ; an American blacksmith would be as- 
tonished at the rapidity with which his Chinese brother per- 
forms his work. 

The pass of Nankow contains the remains of several old 
forts, which were maintained in former times to protect China 
from Mongol incursions. The natural position is a strong 
one, and a small force could easily keep at bay a whole army. 
Just outside the northern entrance of the pass there is a 
branch of one of the " Great Walls " of China. It was built 
some time before the Great Wall. Foreigners visiting Pekin 
and desiring to sec the Great Wall arc usually taken to Nan- 
kow, and gravely told they have attained the object they seek. 
Perhaps it is just as well for them to believe so, since they 
avoid a journey of fifty miles farther over a rough road to 
reach the real Great Wall ; besides, the Chinese who have 
contracted to take them on the excursion arc able to make a 
nice thing of it, since they charge as much for one place as 
for the other. 

The country for a considerable distance is dotted with old 
forts and ruins, and the remains of extensive earthworks. 
Many battles were fought here between the Chinese and the 
Mongols when Genghis Khan made his conquest. For a long 
time the assailants were kept at bay, but one fortress after 



A FORT LOST BY A WOMAN. 855 

another fell into their hands, and finally the capture of the 
Nankow pass by Che-pee, one of Genghis Khan's generals, 
laid Pekin at their mercy. 

There is a tradition that the loss of the first line of north- 
ern forts was due to a woman. Intelligence was transmitted 
in those days by means of beacon fires, and the signals were 
so arranged as to be rapidly flashed through the empire. 
Once a lady induced the Emperor to give the signal and sum- 
mon his armies to the capital. The Mandarins assembled 
with their forces, but on finding they had been simply em- 
ployed at the caprice of a woman, they returned angrily to 
their homes. By-and-by the enemy came ; the beacon fires 
were again lighted ; but this time the Mandarins did not heed 
the call for assistance. 

The Great Wall — the real one — crosses the road at Chan- 
kia-kow, a large and scattered town lying in a broad valley, 
pretty well enclosed by mountains. The Russians call the 
town Kalgan (gate), but the natives never use any other 
than the Chinese name. In maps made from Russian author- 
ities, Kalgan appears, while in those taken from the Chinese, 
the other appellation is used. Kalgan (1 stick to the Russian 
term, as more easily pronounced, though less correct) is the 
centre of the transit trade from Pekin to Kiachta, and great 
quantities of tea and other goods pass through it annually. 
Several Russians are established there, and the town contains 
a population of Chinese from various provinces of the empire, 
mingled with Mongols and Thibetans in fair proportion. The 
religion is varied, and embraces adherents to all the branches 
of Chinese theology, together with Mongol lamas and a con- 
siderable sprinkling of Mahommedans. There are temples, 
lamissaries, and mosques, according to the needs of the 
faithful ; and the Russian inhabitants have a chapel of their 
own, and are thus able to worship according to their own 
faith. The mingling of different tribes and kinds of people 
in a region where manners and morals are not severely strict, 
has produced a result calculated to puzzle the present or 
future ethnologist. Many of the merchants have grown 



356 HORSE-FAIR IN MONGOLIA. 

wealthy, and take life as comfortably as possible ; they fur- 
nish their houses in the height of Chinese style, and some of 
them have even sent to Russia for the wherewith to astonish 
their neighbors. 

The Great Wall runs along the ridge of hills in a direction 
nearly east and west ; where it crosses the town it is kept in 
good repair, but elsewhere it is very much in ruins, and could 
offer little resistance to an enemy. Many of the towers re- 
main, and some of them are but little broken. They seem 
to have been better constructed than the main portions of 
the wall, and, though useless against modern weapons, were, 
no doubt, of importance in the days of their erection. The 
Chinese must have held the Mongol hordes in great dread, to 
judge by the labor expended to guard against incursions. 

As Kalgan is the frontier town between China and Mon- 
golia, many Mongols go there for all purposes, from trading 
down to loafing. They bring their camels to engage in trans- 
porting goods across the desert, and indulge in a great deal 
of traffic on their own account. They drive cattle, sheep, 
and horses from their pastures farther north, and sell 
them for local use, or for the market at Pekin. Mutton is 
the staple article of food, and nearly always cheap and abun- 
dant. The hillsides are covered with flocks, which often 
graze where nothing else can live. In the autumn, immense 
numbers of sheep are driven to Pekin, and sometimes the 
road is fairly blocked with them. 

Every morning there is a horse-fair on an open space just 
beyond the Great Wall, and on its northern side. The modes 
of buying and selling horses are very curious, and many of 
the tricks would be no discredit to American jockeys. The 
horses are tied or held wherever their owners can keep them, 
and in the centre of the fair grounds there is a space where 
the beasts are shown off. They trot or gallop up and down 
the course, their riders yelling as if possessed of devils, and 
holding their whips high in air. These riders are generally 
Mongols ; their garments nutter like the decorations of a 
scarecrow in a morning breeze, and their pig-tails, if not 



AN ORIENTAL RACE. 



35T 



carefully triced up, stand out at right angles like ships' pen- 
nants in a north- 
east gale. Not- 
withstanding all 
the confusion, it 
rarely happens 
that anybody is 
run over, though 
there are many 
narrow escapes. 

The fair is at- 
tended by two 
classes of people 
— those who want 
to trade in horses, 
and those who 
don't; between 
them they man- 
age to assemble 
a large crowd. 
There are always 
plenty of curb- 
stone brokers, or 
intermediaries, 
who hang around 
the fair to negoti- 
ate purchases and 
sales. They have 
a way of conduct- 
ing trades by 
drawing their long 
sleeves over their 
hands, and mak- 
ing or receiving 
bids by means of 
the concealed fin- 
gers. This mode of telegraphing is quite convenient when 




.RACING AT THEKALGAN FAIE. 



358 



TELEGRAPHING BY HAND 



secrecy is desired, and prevails in many parts of Asia. Taver- 
neir and other travelers say the diamond merchants conduct 
their transactions in this manner, even when no one is pres- 
ent to observe them. 



Ill 

mm 

mm 

mm 



satta 



IBS' ' ' ^hW-*M' ' ; > : W.%- " ■ 

ynf 1 " F ' I 1 il iff ■: P '/// 'i ' fli 




STREET IN KALGAN. 



Unless arrangements have been made beforehand, it will be 
necessary to spend three or four days at Kalgan in preparing 



THE MONGOLIAN CAMELS. 359 

for the journey over the desert. Camels must be hired, carts 
purchased, baggage packed in convenient parcels, and nu- 
merous odds and ends provided against contingencies. Of 
course, there is generally something forgotten, even after 
careful attention to present and prospective wants. 

But we are off at last. The start consumes the greater 
part of a day, as it is best to have nothing clone carelessly at 
the outset. The heavy baggage is loaded upon the camels, 
the animals lying down and patiently waiting while their car- 
goes are stowed. Pieces of felt cloth are packed between 
and around their humps, to prevent injury from the cords 
that sustain the bundles. The drivers display much ingenui- 
ty in arranging the loads so that they shall be easily bal- 
anced, and the sides of the beasts as little injured as possible. 
Spite of precautions, the camels get ugly sores in their sides 
and backs, which grow steadily worse by use. Occasionally 
their hoofs crack and fill with sand, and when this occurs, 
their owner has no alternative but to rest them a month or 
two, or risk losing their services altogether. The principal 
travel over the desert is in the cold season. In the autumn, 
the camels are fat, and their 
humps appear round and hard. 
They are then steadily worked 
until spring, and very often get 
very little to eat. As the camel 
grows thin, his humps fall to one 
side, and the animal assumes a 
woe-begone appearance. In the 
spring, his hair falls off ; his na- , „ 

" O) > 1U GOOD CONDITION. 

ked skin wrinkles like a wet 

glove, and he becomes anything but an attractive object. 

As a beast of burden, the camel is better than for purposes 
of draft. He can carry from six hundred to eight hundred 
pounds, if the load be properly placed on his back ; but when 
he draws a cart the weight must be greatly diminished. In 
crossing Mongolia, heavy baggage is carried on camels, but 
every traveler takes a cart for riding purposes, and alter- 




360 CAMEL CART AND COFFIN LOGS. 

nates between it and his saddle horse. The cart is a sort of 
dog-house on two wheels ; its frame is of wood, and has a 
covering of felt cloth, thick enough to ward off a light fall 
of rain, and embarrass a heavy one. It is barely high enough 
to allow a man to sit erect, but not sufficiently long to ena- 
ble him to lie at full length. The body rests directly upon 
the axle, so that the passenger gets the full benefit of every 
jolt. The camel walks between the shafts, and his great 
body is the chief feature of the scenery when one looks ahead. 
The harness gives way occasionally, and allows the shafts to 
fall to the ground ; when this happens, the occupant runs the 
risk of being dumped among the ungainly feet that propel 
his vehicle. One experience of this kind is more than satis- 
factory. 

After passing a range of low mountains north of Kalgan, 
the road enters the table-land of Mongolia, elevated about 
five thousand feet above the sea. The country opens into a 
series of plains and gentle swells, not unlike the rolling prai- 
ries of Kansas and Nebraska, with here and there a stretch 
of hills. Yery often not a single tree is visible, and the only 
stationary objects that break the monotony of the scene are 
occasional yourts, or tents of the natives. All the way along 
the road there are numerous trains of ox-carts, and some- 
times they form a continuous line of a mile or more. Those 
going southward are principally laden with logs of wood 
from the valley of the Tolla, about two hundred miles from 
the Siberian frontier. The logs are about six or seven feet 
long, and their principal use is to be cut into Chinese coffins. 
Many a gentleman of Pekin has been stowed in a coffin whose 
wood grew in the middle of Mongolia ; and possibly when 
our relations with the empire become more intimate, we shall 
supply the Chinese coffin market from the fine forests of our 
Pacific coast. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

NORTH of Kalgan the native habitations are scattered 
irregularly over the country wherever good water and 
grass abound. The Mongols are generally nomadic, and con- 
sult the interest of their flocks and herds in their movements. 
In summer they resort to the table-land, and stay wherever 
fancy or convenience dictates ; in winter they prefer the val- 
leys where they are partially sheltered from the sharp winds, 
and find forage for their stock. 

The desert is not altogether a desert ; it has a great deal 
of sand and general desolation to the day's ride, but is far 
from being a forsaken region where a wolf could not make a 
living. Antelopes abound, and are often seen in large droves 
as upon our Western plains ; grouse will afford frequent 
breakfasts to the traveler if he takes the trouble to shoot 
them ; there are wild geese, ducks, and curlew in the ponds 
and marshes ; and taken for all in all, the country might be 
much worse than it is — which is bad enough. 

The flat or undulating country is, of course, monotonous. 
Sunset and sunrise are not altogether unlike those events on 
the ocean, and if a traveler wishes to feel himself quite at 
sea, he has only to wander off and lose his camp or caravan. 
The natives make nothing of straying out of sight, and seem 
to possess the instincts which have been often noted in the 
American Indian. Without landmarks or other objects to 
guide them, they rarely mistake their position, even at night, 
and can estimate the extent of a day's journey with surpris- 
ing accuracy. Where a stranger can see no difference be- 
tween one square mile of desert and a thousand others, the 

(361) 



362 LOST IN A MONGOLIAN DESERT. 

Mongol can distinguish it from all the rest, though he may 
not be able to explain why. Perception is closely allied to 
instinct, and as fast as we are developed and educated the 
more we trust to acquired knowledge and the less to the un- 
aided senses. 

Of course it is quite easy for a stranger to be lost in the 
Mongolian desert beyond all hope of finding his way again, 
unless some one comes to his aid. A Russian gentleman told 
me his experience in getting lost there several years ago. 
" I used," said he, " to have a fondness for pursuing game 
whenever we sighted any, which was pretty often, and as I 
had a couple of hardy ponies, I did a great deal of chasing. 
One afternoon I saw a fine drove of antelopes, and set out in 
pursuit of them. The chase led me further than I expected : 
the game was shy, and I could not get near enough for a good 
shot ; after a long pursuit I gave up, and concluded to return 
to the road. Just as I abandoned the chase the sun was set- 
ting. My notion of the direction I ought to go was not en- 
tirely clear, as I had followed a very tortuous course in pur- 
suing the antelopes. 

" I was not altogether certain which way I turned when I 
left the road. It was my impression that I went to the 
eastward and had been moving away from the sun ; so I 
turned my pony's head in a westerly direction and followed 
the ridges, which ran from east to west. Hour after hour 
passed away, the stars came out clear and distinct in the sky, 
and marked off the progress of the night as they slowly 
moved from east to west. I grew hungry and thirsty, and 
longed most earnestly to reach the caravan. My pony shared 
my uneasiness, and moved impatiently, now endeavoring to 
go in one direction and now in another. Thinking it possible 
that he might know the proper route better than I, I gave 
him free rein, but soon found he was as much at fault as my- 
self. Then I fully realized I was lost in the desert. 

" Without compass or landmark to guide me, there was no 
use in further attempts to find the caravan. Following the 
Mongol custom, I carried a long rope attached to my saddle- 



ALARMED BY WILD BEASTS. 



363 



bow, and with this I managed to picket the pony where he 
could graze and satisfy his hunger. How I envied his ability 
to eat the grass, which, though scanty, was quite sufficient. 
I tried to sleep, but sleep- 
ing was no easy matter. 
First, I had the conscious- 
ness of being lost. Then 
I was suffering from hun- 
ger and thirst, and the 
night, like all the nights in 
Mongolia, even in midsum- 
mer, was decidedly chilly, 
and as I had only my or- 
dinary clothing, the cold 
caused me to shiver vio- 
lently. The few snatches 
of sleep I caught were 
troubled with many dreams, 
none of them pleasant. 
All sorts of horrible fancies 
passed through my brain, 
and I verily believe that 
though I did not sleep half 
an hour in the whole night, 
the incidents of my dreams were enough for a thousand 
years. 

" Thoughts of being devoured by wild beasts haunted me, 
though in truth I had little of this fate to fear. The only 
carnivorous beasts on the desert are wolves, but as game is 
abundant, and can be caught with ordinary exertion, they 
have no occasion to feed upon men. About midnight my 
fears were roused by my pony taking alarm at the approach 
of some wild beast. He snorted and pulled at his rope, and 
had it not been for my efforts to soothe him, he would have 
broken away and fled. I saw nothing and heard nothing, 
though 1 fancied I could discover half a dozen dark forms on 




LOST IN THE DESERT OF GOBI. 



364 A RUNAWAY HORSE. 

the horizon, and hear a subdued howl from an animal 1 sup- 
posed to be a wolf. 

" Morning came. I was suffering from hunger, and more 
from thirst. My throat was parched, my tongue was swollen, 
and there was a choking sensation as if I were undergoing 
strangulation. How I longed for water! Mounting my 
horse, I rode slowly along the ridge toward the west, and 
after proceeding several miles, discovered a small lake to my 
right. My horse scented it earlier than I, and needed no 
urging to reach it. Dismounting, I bent over and drank 
from the edge, which was marked with the tracks of ante- 
lopes, and of numerous aquatic birds. The water was brack- 
ish and bitter, but I drank it with eagerness. My thirst was 
satisfied, but the water gave me a severe pain in my stomach, 
that soon became almost as unendurable as the previous dry- 
ness. I stood for some minutes on the shore of the lake, and 
preparing to remount my horse, the bridle slipped from my 
hand. Mongol ponies are generally treacherous, and mine 
proved no exception to the rule. Finding himself free, he 
darted off and trotted back the way we had come. 

" I knew that search would be made for me, and my hope 
now lay in some one coining to the lake. It did not require 
long deliberation to determine me to remain in the vicinity 
of the water. As long as I was near it I could not perish of 
thirst ; and moreover, the Mongols, who probably knew of 
the lake, might be attracted here for water, and, if looking- 
for me, would be likely to take the lake in the way. Tying 
my kerchief to my ramrod, which I fixed in the ground, I 
lay down on the grass and slept, as near as I could estimate, 
for more than two hours. 

" Seeing some water-fowl a short distance away, I walked 
in their direction, and luckily found a nest among the reeds, 
close to the water's edge. The six or eight eggs it contained 
were valuable prizes ; one I swallowed raw, and the others I 
carried to where I left my gun. Gathering some of the dry 
grass and reeds, I built a fire and roasted the eggs, which 
gave me a hearty meal. The worst of my hardships seemed 



FOUND AT LAST. 365 

over. I had found water — bad water, it is true — but still it 
was possible to drink it ; by searching among the reeds I 
could find an abundance of eggs ; my gun could procure me 
game, and the reeds made a passable sort of fuel. I should 
be discovered in a few days at furthest, and I renewed my 
determination to remain near the lake. 

" The day passed without any incident to vary the monot- 
ony. Refreshed by my meal and by a draught from a small 
pool of comparatively pure water, I was able to sleep most 
of the afternoon, so as to keep awake during the night, when 
exercise was necessary to warmth. About sunset a drove of 
antelopes came near me, and by shooting one I added venison 
to my bill of fare. In the night I amused myself with keep- 
ing my fire alive, and listening to the noise of the birds that 
the unusual sight threw into a state of alarm. On the fol- 
lowing morning, as I lay on my bed of reeds, a dozen ante- 
lopes, attracted by my kerchief fluttering in the wind, stood 
watching me, and every few minutes approaching a few steps. 
They were within easy shooting distance, but I had no occa- 
sion to kill them. So I lay perfectly still, watching their 
motions and admiring their beauty. 

" All at once, though I had not moved a muscle, they 
turned and ran away. While I was wondering what could 
have disturbed them I heard the shout of two Mongol horse- 
men, who were riding toward me, and leading my pony they 
had caught a dozen miles away. A score of men from the 
caravan had been in search of me since the morning after 
my disappearance, and had ridden many a mile over the 
desert." 

The Mongols are a strong, hardy, and generally good-na- 
tured race, possessing the spirit of perseverance quite as 
much as the Chinese. They have the free manners of all 
nomadic people, and are noted for unvarying hospitality to 
visitors. Every stranger is welcome, and has the best the 
host can give ; the more he swallows of what is offered him, 
the better will be pleased the household. As the native hab- 
its are not especially cleanly, a fastidiously inclined guest has 



366 



CHARACTER OF THE MONGOLS, 




MONGOL DINNER TABLE 



a trying time of it. The staple dish of a Mongol yourt is 
boiled mutton, but it is unaccompanied with capers or any 
other kind of sauce or seasoning. A sheep goes to pot im- 
mediately on being killed, and the quantity that each man 

will consume is something surpris- 
ing. "When the meat is cooked it 
is lifted out of the hot water and 
handed, all dripping and steamy, to 
the guests. Each man takes a 
large lump on his lap, or any con- 
venient support, and then cuts off 
little chunks which he tosses into 
his mouth as if it were a mill-hop-' 
per. The best piece is reserved for 
the guest of honor, who is expected 
to divide it with the rest ; after the 
meat is devoured they drink the broth, and this concludes the 
meal. Knives and cups are the only aids to eating, and as 
every man carries his own " outfit," the Mongol dinner ser- 
vice is speedily arranged. The entire work consists in seat- 
ing the party around a pot of cooked meat. 

The desert is crossed by various ridges and small mountain 
chains, that increase in frequency and make the country 
more broken as one approaches the Tolla, the largest stream 
between Pekin and Kiachta. The road, after traversing the 
last of these chains, suddenly reveals a wide valley which 
bears evidence of fertility in its dense forests, and the strag- 
gling fields which receive less attention than they deserve. 

The Tolla has an ugly habit of rising suddenly and falling 
deliberately. When at its height, the stream has a current 
ol about seven miles an hour, and at the fording place the 
water is over the back of an ordinary pony. The bottom of 
the river consists of large boulders of all sizes from an egg 
up to a cotton bale, and the footing for both horses and cam- 
els is not specially secure. The camels need a good deal of 
persuasion with clubs before they will enter the water ; they 
have an instinctive dread of that liquid and avoid it when- 




m 



1 1 



■ i 



- iiiiiB . 






ma! , \m Ma Sim- ;„ ,.' ; J,, ifiJffll 




A MONGOLIAN FORDING PLACE. 867 

ever they can. Horses are less timorous, and the best way 
to get a camel through the ford is to lead him behind a horse 
and pound him vigorously at the same time. When the river 
is at all dangerous there is always a swarm of natives around 
the ford ready to lend a hand if suitably compensated. They 
all talk very much and in loud tones ; their voices mingle 
with the neighing of horses, the screams of camels, the roar- 
ing of the river, and the laughter of the idlers when any 
mishap occurs. The confused noises are in harmony with 
the scene on either bank, where baggage is piled promiscu- 
ously, and the natives arc grouped together in various pictur- 
esque attitudes. Men with their lower garments rolled as 
high as possible, or altogether discarded, walk about in per- 
fect nonchalance ; their queues hanging down their backs 
seem designed as rudders to steer the wearers across the 
stream. 

About two miles from the ford of the Toll a there is a Chi- 
nese settlement, which forms a sort of suburb to the Mongol 
town of Urga. The Mongols have no great friendship for 
the Chinese inhabitants, who are principally engaged in traffic 
and the various occupations connected with the transport of 
goods. Between this suburb and the main town the Russians 
have a large house, which is the residence of a consul and 
some twenty or thirty retainers. The policy of maintaining 
a consulate there can only be explained on the supposition 
that Russia expects and intends to appropriate a large slice 
of Mongolia whenever opportunity offers. She has long in- 
sisted that the chain of mountains south of Urga was the 
" natural boundary," and her establishment of an expensive 
post at that city enables her to have things ready whenever 
a change occurs. In the spirit of annexation and extension 
of territory the Russians can fairly claim equal rank with 
ourselves. I forget their phrase for " manifest destiny," and 
possibly they may not be willing that I should give it. 

Urga is not laid out in streets like most of the Chinese 
towns ; its by-ways and high-ways are narrow and crooked, 
and form a network very puzzling to a stranger. The Chi- 



368 THE LAMAS AT TJKGA. 

ncse and Russian settlers live in houses, and there are tem- 
ples and other permanent buildings, but the Mongols live 
generally in yourts, which they prefer to more extensive 
structures. Most of the Mongol traffic is conducted in a 
large esplanade, where you can purchase anything the coun- 
try affords, and at very fair prices. 

The principal feature of Urga is the lamissary or convent 
where a great many lamas or holy men reside. I have heard 
the number estimated at fifteen thousand, but cannot say if 
it be more or less. The religion of the Mongols came orig- 
inally from Thibet, by direct authority of the Grand Lama, 
but a train of circumstances which I have not space to ex- 
plain, has made it virtually independent. The Chinese gov- 
ernment maintains shrewd emissaries among these lamas, 
and thus manages to control the Mongols and prevent their 
setting up for themselves. As a further precaution it has a 
lamissary at Pekin, where" it keeps two thousand Mongol 
lamas at its own expense. In this way it is able to influence 
the nomads of the desert, and in case of trouble it would 
possess a fair number of hostages for an emergency. 

About the year 1205 the great battle between Timoujin and 
the sovereign then occupying the Mongol throne was fought 
a short distance from Urga. The victory was decisive for 
the former, who thus became Genghis Khan and commenced 
that career of conquest which made his name famous. 

Great numbers of devotees from all parts of Mongolia visit 
Urga every year, the journey there having something of the 
sacred character which a Mahommedan attaches to a pilgrim- 
age to Mecca. The people living at Urga build fences around 
their dwellings to protect their property from the thieves who 
are in large proportion among the pious travelers. 

From Urga to the Siberian frontier the distance is less than 
two hundred miles ; the Russian couriers accomplish it in 
fifty or sixty hours when not delayed by accidents, but the 
caravans require from four to eight days. There is a system 
of relays arranged by the Chinese so that one can travel 
very speedily if he has proper authority. Couriers have 



CARAVANS ON THE DESERT. 369 

passed from Kiachta to Pekin in ten or twelve days ; but the 
rough road and abominable carts make them feel at their 
journey's end about as if rolled through a patent clothes- 
wringer. A mail is carried twice a month each way by the 
Russians. Several schemes have been proposed for a trans- 
Mongolian telegraph, but thus far the Chinese government 
has refused to permit its construction. 

The desert proper is finished before one reaches the moun- 
tains bordering the Tolla ; after crossing that stream and 
leaving Urga the road passes through a hilly country, sprinkled, 
it is true, with a good many patches of sand, but having 
plenty of forest and frequently showing fertile valleys. These 
valleys are the favorite resorts of the Mongol shepherds and 
herdsmen, some of whom count their wealth by many thou- 
sand animals. In general, Mongolia is not agricultural, both 
from the character of the country and the disposition of the 
people. A few tribes in the west live by tilling the soil in 
connection with stock raising, but I do not suppose they take 
kindly to the former occupation. The Mongols engaged in 
the caravan service pass a large part of their lives on the 
road, and are merry as larks over their employment. They 
seem quite analogous to the teamsters and miscellaneous 
" plainsmen " who used to play an important part on our 
overland route. 

A large proportion of the men engaged in this transit ser- 
vice are lamas, their sacred character not excusing them, as 
many suppose, from all kinds of employment. Many lamas 
are indolent and manage in some way to make a living with- 
out work, but this is by no means the universal character of 
the holy men. About one-fifth of the male population belong 
to the religious order, so that there are comparatively few 
families which do not have a member or a relative in the pale 
of the church. If not domiciled in a convent or blessed by 
fortune in some way, the lama turns his hand to labor, though 
he is able at the same time to pick up occasional presents for 
professional service. Many of them act as teachers or school- 
masters. Theoretically he cannot marry any more than a 
24 



370 



AN INCONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT. 



Romish priest, but his vows of celibacy are not always strict- 
ly kept. One inconvenience under which he labors is in 
never daring to kill anything through fear that what he 

slaughters 
may contain 
the soul of a 
relative, and 
possibly that 
of the divine 
Bhudda. A 
lama will 
purchase a 
sheep on 
which he ex- 
p e ct s to 
dine, and 
though fully 
accessory 
before and 
after the 
fact, he does 
not feel au- 
thorized t o 
use the knife 
with his own 
hand. Even 
should he be 
annoyed by 
fleas or sim- 
ilar creep- 
ing things 

(if it were a township or city the lama's body could return a 
flattering census,) he must bear the infliction until patience 
is thoroughly exhausted. At such times he may call an un- 
sanctified friend and subject himself and garments to a 
thorough examination. , 

Every lama carries with him a quantity of written prayers, 




THE SCHOOLMASTER. 



PEAYING BY MACHINERY. 



371 



which he reads or recites, and the oftener they are repeated 
the greater is their supposed efficacy. Quantity is more im- 
portant than quality, and to facilitate matters they frequently 
have a machine, which consists of a wheel containing a lot 
of prayers. Sometimes it is turned by hand and sometimes 
attached to a wind-mill ; the latter mode being preferred. 

Abbe Hue and others have remarked a striking similarity 
between the Bhuddist and Roman Catholic forms of worship 
and the origin of the two religions. Hue infers that Bhudd- 
ism was borrowed from Christianity ; on the other hand, 
many lamas declare that the reverse is the case. The ques- 
tion has caused a great deal of discussion first and last, but 
neither party appears disposed to yield. 

The final stretch of road toward the Siberian frontier is 
across a sandy plain, six or eight miles wide. On emerging 
from the hills at its southern edge the dome of the church in 
Kiachta appears in sight, and announces the end of Mongol- 
ian travel. No lighthouse is more welcome to a mariner than 
is the view of this Russian town to a traveler who has suf- 
fered the hardships of a journey from Pekin. 




CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE week I remained at Kiaclita was a time of festivity 
from beginning to end. I endeavored to write up my 
journal but was able to make little more than rough notes. 
The good people would have been excusable had they not 
compelled me to drink so much excellent champagne. The 
amiable merchants of Kiachta are blessed with such capaci- 
ties for food and drink that they do not think a guest satis- 
fied until he has swallowed enough to float a steamboat. 

I found an excellent compagnon du voyage, and our depart- 
ure was fixed for the evening after the dinner with Mr Pfaf- 
fins. A change from dinner dress to traveling costume was 
speedily made, and I was ' gotovey ' when my friend arrived 
with several officers to see us off. About eight o'clock we 
took places in my tarantass, and drove out of the northern 
gate of Troitskosavsk. 

My traveling companion was Mr. Richard Maack, Super- 
intendent of Public Instruction in Eastern Siberia. He was 
just finishing a tour among the schools in the Trans-Baikal 
province, and during fourteen years of Siberian life, he had 
seen a variety of service. He accompanied General Mou- 
ravieff on the first expedition down the Amoor, and wrote a 
detailed account of his journey. Subsequently he explored 
the Ousuree in the interest of the Russian Geographical Soci- 
ety. He said that his most arduous service was in a winter 
journey to the valley of the Lena, and along the shores of the 
Arctic Ocean. The temperature averaged lower than in Dr. 
Kane's hibernation on the coast of Greenland, and once re- 
mained at - 60° for nearly three weeks. Of five persons com- 
(372) 



A SACRED VILLAGE. 373 

prising the party, Maack is the only survivor. One of his 
companions fell dead in General Mouravieff's parlor while 
giving his account of the exploration. 

We determined to be comfortable on the way to Irkutsk. 
"We put our baggage in a telyaga with Maack's servant and 
took the tarantass to ourselves. The road was the same I 
traveled from Verkne Udinsk to Kiachta, crossing the Se- 
lenga at Selenginsk. We slept most of the first night, and 
timed our arrival at Selenginsk so as to find the school in 
session. During a brief halt while the smotretal prepared 
our breakfast, Maack visited the school-master at his post of 
duty. 

Over the hills behind a lake about a day's ride from Selen- 
ginsk there is a Bouriat village of a sacred character. It is 
the seat of a large temple or lamisary whence all the Bouriats 
in Siberia receive their religious teachings. A grand lama 
specially commissioned by the great chief of the Bhuddist 
faith at Thibet, presides over the lamisary. He is supposed 
to partake of the immortal essence of Bhudda, and when his 
body dies, his spirit enters a younger person who becomes 
the lama after passing a certain ordeal. 

The village is wholly devoted to religious purposes, and oc- 
cupied exclusively by Bouriats. I was anxious to visit it, but 
circumstances did not favor my desires. 

We made both crossings of the Sclenga on the ice without 
difficulty. It was only a single day from the time the ferry 
ceased running until the ice was safe for teams. We reached 
Verkne Udinsk late in the evening, and drove to a house 
where my companion had friends. The good lady brought 
some excellent nalif ka of her own preparation, and the more 
we praised it the more she urged us to drink. What with 
tea, nalif ka, and a variety of solid food, we were pretty well 
filled during a halt of two hours. 

It was toward midnight when wo emerged from the house 
to continue our journey. Maack found his tarantass at Verk- 
ne Udinsk, and as it was larger and better than mine we 
assigned the latter to Evan and the baggage, and took the 



374 THAWING AND FREEZING. 

best to ourselves. Evan was a Yakut whom my friend brought 
from the Lena country. He was intelligent and active, and 
assisted greatly to soften the asperities of the route. With 
my few words of Russian, and his quick comprehension, we 
understood each other very well. . 

During the first few hours from Yerkne Udinsk the sky 
was obscured and the air warm. My furs were designed for 
cold weather, and their weight in the temperature then pre- 
vailing threw me into perspiration. In my debar I was un- 
pleasantly warm, and without it I shivered. I kept alter- 
nately opening and closing the garment, and obtained very 
little sleep up to our arrival at the first station. While we 
were changing horses the clouds blew away and the temper- 
ature fell several degrees. Under the influence of the cold 
I fell into a sound sleep, and did not heed the rough, grater- 
like surface of the recently frozen road. 

From Verkne Udinsk to Lake Baikal, the road follows the 
Selenga valley, which gradually widens as one descends it. 
The land appears fertile and well adapted to farming pur- 
poses but only a small portion is under cultivation. The in- 
habitants are pretty well rewarded for their labor if I may 
judge by the appearance of their farms and villages. Until 
reaching Ilyensk, I found the cliffs and mountains extending 
quite near the river. In some places the road is cut into the 
rocks in such a' way as to afford excitement to a nervous 
traveler. 

The villages were numerous and had an air of prosperity. 
Here and there new houses were going up, and made quite a 
contrast to the old and decaying habitations near them. My 
attention was drawn to the well-sweeps exactly resembling 
those in the rural districts of New England. From the size 
of the sweeps, I concluded the wells were deep. The soil in 
the fields had a loose, friable appearance that reminded me 
of the farming lands around Cleveland, Ohio. 

One of the villages where we changed horses is called 
Kabansk from the Russian word ' Kaban ' (wild boar). This 
animal abounds in the vicinity and is occasionally hunted for 



HUNTING THE WILD BOAR. 



375 



sport. The chase of the wild boar is said to be nearly as 
dangerous as that of the bear, the brute frequently turning 
upon his pursuer and making a determined fight. We passed 
the Monastery 
of Troitska 
founded in 1681 
for the conver- 
sion of the Bou- 
riats. It is an 
imposing edifice 
built like a Rus- 
sian church in 
the middle of a 
large area sur- 
rounded by a 
high wall. 
Though it must 
have impressed 
the natives by 
its architectural 
effects it was 
powerless to 
change their 
faith. 

As it approach- 
es Lake Baikal 
the Selenga di- 
vides into sev- 
eral branches, and encloses a large and very fertile delta. 
The afternoon following our departure from Verkne Udinsk, 
we came in sight of the lake, and looked over the blue sur- 
face of the largest body of fresh water in Northern Asia. 
The mountains on the western shore appeared about eight or 
ten miles away, though they were really more than thirty. 
We skirted the shore of the lake, turning our horses' heads to 
the southward. The clear water reminded me of Lake Mich- 
igan as one sees it on approaching Chicago by railway from 




WILD BOAR HUNT. 



376 



AN UNPLEASANT ROAD. 









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I 







A WIFE AT IRKUTSK 



the East. Its waves broke gently on a pebbly beach, where 
the cold of commencing winter had changed much of the 
spray to ice. 
There was no steamer waiting at Posolsky, but we were told 
that one was hourly expected. Maack 
was radiant at finding a letter from his 
wife awaiting him at the station. I en- 
quired for letters but did not obtain any. 
Unlike my companion I had no wife at 
Irkutsk. 

The steamboat landing is nine versts 
below the town, and as the post route 
ended at Posolsky, we were obliged to 
engage horses at a high rate, to take us 
to the port. The alternate freezing and 
thawing of the road — its last act was to 
freeze — had rendered it something like 
the rough way in a Son-of-Malta Lodge. 
The agent assured us the steamer would arrive during the 
night. "Was there ever a steamboat agent 
who did not promise more than his em- 
ployers performed ? 

According to the tourist's phrase the 
port of Posolsky can be ' done ' in about 
five minutes. The entire settlement com- 
prised two buildings, one a hotel, and the 
other a storehouse and stable. A large 
quantity of merchandise was piled in the 
open air, and awaited removal. 

It included tea from Kiachta, and vodki 
or native whiskey from Irkutsk. There 
are several distilleries in the Trans-Bai- 
kal province, but they are unable to meet 
the demand in the country east of the lake. From what I 
saw in transitu the consumption must be enormous. The 
government has a tax on vodki equal to about fifty cents a 
gallon, which is paid by the manufacturers. The law is very 




NO WIFE AT IRKUTSK. 



BIRD HUNTING FOR PASTIME. 377 

strict, and the penalties are so great that I was told no one 
dared attempt an evasion of the excise duties, except by brib- 
ing the collector. 

The hotel was full of people waiting for the boat, and the 
accommodations were quite limited. We thought the taran- 
tass preferable to the hotel, and retired early to sleep in our 
carriage. A teamster tied his horses to our wheels, and as 
the brutes fell to kicking during the night, and attempted to 
break away, they disturbed our slumbers. I rose at daybreak 
and watched the yemshiks making their toilet. The whole 
operation was performed by tightening the girdle and rubbing 
the half-opened eyes. 

Morning brought no boat. There was nothing very inter- 
esting after we had breakfasted, and as we might be detained 
there a whole week, the prospect was not charming. We 
organized a hunting excursion, Maack with his gun and I 
with my revolver. I assaulted the magpies which were nu- 
merous and impertinent, and succeeded in frightening them. 
Gulls were flying over the lake ; Maack desired one for his 
cabinet at Irkutsk, but couldn't get him. He brought down 
an enormous crow, and an imprudent hawk that pursued a 
small bird in our vicinity. His last exploit was in shooting 
a partridge which alighted, strange to say, on the roof of the 
hotel within twenty feet of a noisy crowd of yemshiks. The 
bird was of a snowy whiteness, the Siberian partridge chang- 
ing from brown to white at the beginning of winter, and from 
white to brown again as the snow disappears. 

A " soudna " or sailing barge was anchored at the entrance 
of a little bay, and was being filled with tea to be transported 
to Irkutsk. The soudna is a bluff-bowed, broad sterned craft, 
a sort of cross between Noah's Ark and a Chinese junk. It 
is strong but not elegant, and might sail backward or side- 
wise nearly as well as ahead. Its carrying capacity is great 
in proportion to its length, as it is very wide and its sides rise 
very high above the water. Every soudna I saw had but one 
mast which carried a square sail. These vessels can only 



378 EXILES LANDING FROM THE STEAMER. 



sail with the 'wind, and then not very rapidly. An American 
pilot boat could pass a thousand of them without half trying. 

About noon we saw a thin 
wreath of smoke betokening 
the approach of the steamer. 
In joy at this welcome sight we 
dined and bought tickets for 




our baggage was taken free 



■H the passage, ours of the first 
class being printed in gold, 
while Evan's billet for the deck 
was in Democratic black. It 
cost fifteen roubles for the 
transport of each tarantass, but 
and we were not even required 
to unload it. 

There is no wharf at Posolsky and no harbor, the steamers 
anchoring in the open water half a mile from shore. Pas- 
sengers, mails, and baggage are taken to the steamer in large 
row boats, while heavy freight is carried in soudnas. | The 
boat that took us brought a convoy of exiles before we 
embarked. They formed a double line at the edge of the 
lake where they were closely watched by their guards. When 
we reached the steamer we found another party of prisoners 
waiting to go on shore. All were clad in sheepskin pelisses 
and some carried extra garments. Several women and chil- 
dren accompanied the party, and I observed two or three old 
men who appeared little able to make a long journey. One 
sick man too feeble to walk, was supported by his guards and 
his fellow prisoners. 

Though there was little wind, and that little blew from 
shore, the boat danced uneasily on the waves. Our carriages 
came off on the last trip of the boat, and were hoisted by 
means of a running tackle on one of the steamer's yards. 

"While our embarkation was progressing a crew of Russians 
and Bouriats towed the now laden soudna to a position near 
our stern. When all was ready, we took her hawser, hoisted 
our anchor and steamed away. For some time I watched the 



THE HOLY SEA OP NORTHERN ASIA. 379 

low eastern shore of the lake until it disappeared in the dis- 
tance. Posolsky has a monastery built on the spot where a 
Russian embassador with his suite was murdered by Bouriats 
about the year 1680. The last objects I saw behind me were 
the walls, domes, and turrets of this monastery glistening in 
the afternoon sunlight. They rose clear and distinct on the 
horizon, an outwork of Christianity against the paganism of 
Eastern Asia. 

The steamer was the Ignatienif, a side wheel boat of about 
300 tons. Her model was that of an ocean or coasting craft, 
she had two masts, and could spread a little sail if desired., 
Her engines were built at Ekaterineburg in the Ural Moun- 
tains, and hauled overland 2500 miles. She and her sister 
boat, the Creneral Korsachoff, are very profitable to their 
owners during the months of summer. They carry passen- 
gers, mails, and light freight, and nearly always have one or 
two soudnas in tow. Their great disadvantage at present is 
the absence of a port on the eastern shore. 

The navigation of Lake Baikal is very difficult. Storms 
arise with little warning, and are often severe. At times the 
boats are obliged to remain for days in the middle of the lake 
as they cannot always make the land while a gale Continues. 
There was very little breeze when we crossed, but the steamer 
was tossed quite roughly. The winds blowing from the moun- 
tains along the lake, frequently sweep with great violence and 
drive unlucky soudnas upon the rocks. 

The water of the lake is so clear that one can see to a 
very great depth. The lake is nearly four hundred miles 
long by about thirty or thirty-five in width ; itis twelve hund- 
red feet above the sea level, and receives nearly two hund- 
red tributaries great and small. Its outlet, the Angara, is 
near the southwestern end, and is said to carry off not more 
than a tenth of the water that enters the lake. What be- 
comes of the surplus is a problem no one has been able to 
solve. The natives believe there is an underground passage 
to the sea, and some geologists favor this opinion. Sound- 
ings of 2000 feet have been made without finding bottom. 



380 



DANGEROUS NAVIGATION. 



On the western shore the mountains rise abruptly from the 
water, and in some places no bottom has been found at 400 
feet depth, within pistol shot of the bank. This fact renders 
navigation dangerous, as a boat might be driven on shore in 
even a light breeze before her anchors found holding ground. 
The natives have many superstitions concerning Lake Bai- 
kal. In their language it is the " Holy Sea," and it would 
be sacrilege to term it a lake. Certainly it has several marine 
peculiarities. Gulls and other ocean birds frequent its shores, 
and it is the only body of fresh water on the globe where the 
seal abounds. Banks of coral like those in tropical seas exist 
in its depths. 





AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE. 

The mountains on the western shore are evidently of vol- 
canic origin, and earthquakes are not unfrequent. A few 



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HMMHHH 




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A NOVEL JOUENEY. 381 

years ago the village of Stepnoi, about twenty miles from the 
mouth of the Selenga, was destroyed by an earthquake. Part 
of the village disappeared beneath the water while another 
part after sinking was lifted twenty or thirty feet above its 
original level. Irkutsk has been frequently shaken at the 
foundations, and on one occasion the walls of its churches 
were somewhat damaged. Around Lake Baikal there are 
several hot springs, some of which attract fashionable visitors 
from Irkutsk during the season. 

The natives say nobody was ever lost in Lake Baikal. 
When a person is dr wned there the waves invariably throw 
his body on shore. 

The lake does not freeze until the middle of December, 
and sometimes later. Its temperature remains pretty nearly 
the same at all seasons, about 48° Fahrenheit. In winter it 
is crossed on the ice, the passage ordinarily occupying about 
five hours. The lake generally freezes when the air is per- 
fectly still so that the surface is of glossy smoothness until 
covered with snow. A gentleman in Irkutsk described to me 
his feelings when he crossed Lake Baikal in winter for the 
first time. The ice was six feet thick, but so perfectly trans- 
parent that he seemed driving over the surface of the water. 
The illusion was complete, and not wholly dispelled when he 
alighted. " Starting from the western side, the opposite coast 
was not visible, and I experienced " said my friend, " the sen- 
sation of setting out in a sleigh to cross the Atlantic from 
Liverpool to New York." 

In summer and in winter communication is pretty regular, 
but there is a suspension of travel when the ice is forming, and 
another when it breaks up. This causes serious inconven- 
ience, and has led the government to build a road around the 
southern extremity of the lake. The mountains are lofty 
and precipitous, and the work is done at vast expense. The 
road winds over cliffs and crags sometimes near the lake and 
again two thousand feet above it. Large numbers of peas- 
ants, Bouriats, and prisoners have been employed there for 



382 BURNING A ROAD. 

several years, but the route was not open for wheeled vehicles 
at the time I crossed the lake. 

One mode of cutting the road through the mountains was 
to build large bonfires in winter when the temperature was 
very low. The heat caused the rock to crack so that large 
masses could be removed, but the operation was necessarily 
slow. The insurrection of June, 1866, occurred on this 
road. 

Formerly a winter station was kept on the ice half-way 
across the lake. By a sudden thaw at the close of one winter 
the men and horses of a station were swallowed up, and noth- 
ing was known of them until weeks afterward, when their 
bodies were washed ashore. Since this catastrophe the en- 
tire passage of the lake, about forty miles, is made without 
change of horses. 

We left Posolsky and enjoyed a sunset on the lake. The 
mountains rise abruptly on the western and southeastern 
shores, and many of their snow covered peaks were beauti- 
fully tinged by the fading sunlight. The illusion regarding 
distances was difficult to overcome, and could only be real- 
ized by observing how very slowly we neared the mountains 
we were approaching. The atmosphere was of remarkable 
purity, and its powers of refraction reminded me of past expe- 
rience in the Rocky Mountains. We had sunset and moon- 
rise at once. 'Adam had no more in Eden save the head of 
Eve upon his shoulder.' 

The boat went directly across and then followed the edge 
of the lake to Listvenichna, our point of debarkation. There 
was no table on board. We ordered the samovar, made our 
own tea, and supped from the last of our commissary stores. 
Our fellow passengers in the cabin were two officers traveling 
to Irkutsk, and a St. Petersburg merchant who had just fin- 
ished the Amoor Company's affairs. We talked, ate, drank, 
smoked, and slept during the twelve hours' journey. 

Congratulate us on our quick passage ! On her very next 
voyage the steamer was eight days on the lake, the wind 
blowing so that she could not come to either shore. To be 



A SIBERIAN CUSTOM HOUSE. 383 

cooped on this dirty and ill-provided boat long enough to cross 
the Atlantic is a fate I hope never to experience. 

There is a little harbor at Listvenichna and we came along- 
side a wharf. Maack departed with our papers to procure 
horses, and left me to look at the vanishing crowd. Take the 
passengers from the steerage of a lake or river steamer in 
America, dress them in sheepskin coats and caps, let them 
talk a language you cannot understand, and walk them into 
a cloud of steam as if going overboard in a fog, and you 
have a passable reproduction of the scene. A bright fire 
should be burning on shore to throw its contrast of light and 
shadow over the surroundings and heighten the picturesque 
effect. 

Just as the deck hands were rolling our carriages on shore 
my companion returned, and announced our horses ready. 
We sought a little office near the head of the wharf where 
the chief of the ' tamojna ' (custom house) held his court. 
This official was known to Mr. Maack, and on our declaring 
that we had no dutiable effects we were passed without 
search. 

As before remarked all the country east of Lake Baikal is 
open to free trade. This result has been secured by the ef- 
forts of the present governor general of Eastern Siberia. 
Under his liberal and enlightened policy he has done much 
to break down the old restrictions and develop the resources 
of a country over which he holds almost autocratic power. 
It was about three in the morning when we started over the 
frozen earth. Two miles from the landing we reached the 
custom house barrier where a pole painted with the govern- 
ment colors stretched across the road. Presenting our papers 
from the chief officer we were not detained. On the steamer 
when we were nearing harbor our conversation turned upon 
the custom house. It was positively asserted that the offi- 
cials were open to pecuniary compliments, much, I presume 
like those in other lands. The gentleman from the Amoor 
had considerable baggage, and prepared a five rouble note to 
facilitate his business. Evidently he gave too little or did 



884 FISH IN LAKE BAIKAL. 

not bribe the right man, as I left him vainly imploring to be 
let alone in the centre of a pile of open baggage, like Marius 
in the ruins of Carthage. 

The road follows the right bank of the Angara from the 
point where it leaves the lake. The current here is very 
strong, and the river rushes and breaks like the rapids of the 
St. Lawrence. For several miles from its source it never 
freezes even in the coldest winters. During the season of ice 
this open space is the resort of many waterfowl, and is gen- 
erally enveloped in a cloud of mist. At the head of the 
river rises a mass of rock known as Shaman Kamen (spirit's 
rock). It is held in great veneration by the natives, and is 
believed to be the abode of a spirit who constantly overlooks 
the lake. When shamanism prevailed in this region many 
human sacrifices were made at the sacred rock. The most 
popular method was by tying the hands of the victim and 
tossing him into the 'hell of waters' below. 

Many varieties of fish abound in the lake, and ascend its 
tributary rivers. The fishery forms quite a business for the 
inhabitants of the region, who find a good market at Irkutsk. 

The principal fish taken are- 
two or three varieties of stur- 
geon, the herring, pike, carp, 
the askina, and a white fish 
called tymain. There is a 
remarkable fish consisting of 
a mass of fat that burns like 
- a candle and melts away in 
the heat of the sun or a fire. 
a specimen. It is found dead on the shores 

of the lake after violent storms. A live one has never been 
seen. 

The distance to Irkutsk from our landing was about forty 
miles, and we hoped to arrive in time for breakfast. A snow 
storm began about daylight, so that I did not see much of the 
wooded valley of the river. We met a train of sixty or sev-i 
enty carts, each carrying a cask of vodki. This liquid misery 




ARRIVAL AT IRKUTSK. 385 

was on its "way to the Trans-Baikal, and the soudna which 
brought a load of tea would cany vodki as a return cargo. 

The clouds thinned and broke, the snow ceased falling, and 
the valley became distinct. While I admired its beauty, we 
reached the summit of a hill and I saw before me a cluster 
of glittering domes and turrets, rising from a wide bend in 
the Angara. At first I could discern only churches, but very 
soon I began to distinguish the streets, avenues, blocks, and 
houses of a city. We entered Irkutsk through its eastern 
gate, and drove rapidly along a wide street, the busiest I had 
yet seen in Asiatic Russia. 

Just as the sun burst in full splendor through the depart- 
ing clouds, I alighted in the capital of Oriental Siberia, half 
around the world from my own home. 



25 




CHAPTER XXXIV. 

AS we entered the city a Cossack delivered a letter an- 
nouncing that I was to be handed over to the police, 
who had a lodging ready for me. On learning of my pres- 
ence at Kiachta the Governor General kindly requested an 
officer of his staff to share his rooms with me. Captain 
Paul, with whom I was quartered, occupied pleasant apart- 
ments overlooking the gastinnidvor. He was leading a bach- 
elor life in a suite of six rooms, and had plenty of space at 
my disposal. That I might lose no time, the Chief of Police 
stationed the Cossack with a letter telling me where to drive. 

I removed the dust and costume of travel as so en as pos- 
sible, and prepared to pay my respects to the Governor Gen- 
eral. My presentation was postponed to the following day, 
and as the Russian etiquette forbade my calling on other of- 
ficials before I had seen the chief, there was little to be done 
in the matter of visiting. 

The next morning I called upon General Korsaekoff, de- 
livered my letters of introduction, and was most cordially 
welcomed to Irkutsk. The Governor General of Eastern Si- 
beria controls a territory larger than all European Russia, 
and much of it is not yet out of its developing stage, ne 
has a heavy responsibility upon his shoulders in leading his 
subjects in the way best for their interests and those of the 
crown. Much has been done under the energetic administra- 
tion of General Korsaekoff and his predecessor, and there is 
room to accomplish much more. The general has ably with- 
stood the cares and hardships of his Siberian life. He is 
forty-five years of age, active and vigorous, and capable of 

(386) 



OFFICIAL VISITS, 



387 



doing much before his way of life is fallen into the sere and 
yellow leaf. Like Madame De Stacl, he possesses the power 
of putting visitors entirely at their ease. To my single coun- 
trywomen I will whisper that General Korsackoff is of about 
medium height, has a fair complexion, blue eyes, and Saxon 
hair, and a face which 
the most crabbed 
misanthrope could 
not refuse to call 
handsome. He is 
unmarried, and if ru- 
mor tells the truth, 
not under engage- 
ment. 

The Governor Gen- 
eral lives in a spa- 
c i o u s and elegant 
Jiouse on the bank 
of the Angara, built 
by a merchant who 
amassed an immense 
fortune in the Chi- 
nese trade. On re- 
tiring from business 

he devoted his time and energies to constructing the finest 
mansion in Eastern Siberia. It is a stone building of three 
stories, and Its halls and parlors are of liberal extent. Fur- 
niture was brought from St. Petersburg at enormous cost, 
and the whole establishment was completed without regard 
to expense. At the death of its builder the house was pur- 
chased by government, and underwent a few changes to adapt 
it to its official occupants. On the opposite bank of the river 
there is a country scat, the private property of General Kor- 
sackoff, and his dwelling place in the hot months. 

It was my good fortune that Mr. Maack was obliged by 
etiquette to visit his friends on returning from his journey. 
I arranged to accompany him, and during that day and the 




GOV. GEN L KORSACKOFF. 



388 PASSPORT REGULATIONS. 

next we called upon many persons of official and social posi- 
tion. These included the Governor and Vice Governor of 
Irkutsk, the chief of staff and heads of departments, the 
mayor of the city, and the leading merchants. Succeeding 
days were occupied in receiving return visits, and when these 
were ended I was fairly a member of the society of the Si- 
berian capital. 

The evening after my arrival I returned early to my lodg- 
ings to indulge in a Russian bath. Captain Paul was absent, 
but his servant managed to inform me by words and panto- 
mime that all was ready On the captain's return the man 
said he had told me in German that the bath was waiting. 

" How did you speak German ? " asked the captain, aware 
that his man knew nothing but Russian. 

" Oh," said the servant, " I rubbed my hands over my face 
and arms and pointed toward the bath-room." 

On the morning after my arrival the proprietor of the 
house asked for my passport ; when it returned it bore the 
visa of the chief of police. There is a regulation throughout 
Russia that every hotel keeper or other householder shall 
register his patrons with the police. By this means the au- 
thorities can trace the movements of ' suspects,' and prevent 
unlicensed travel. In Siberia the plan is particularly valu- 
able in keeping exiles on the spots assigned them. 

At St. Petersburg and Moscow the police keep a directory 
and hold it open to the public. When I reached the capital 
and wished to find some friends who arrived a few days be- 
fore me, I obtained their address from this directory. Those 
who sought my whereabouts found me in the same way. 

The weather was steadily cold — about zero Fahrenheit — 
and was called mild for the season by the residents of Irkutsk. 
I brought from New York a heavy overcoat that braved the 
storms of Broadway the winter before my departure. My 
Russian friends pronounced it nechevo (nothing,) and advised 
me to procure a ' shoobaj or cloak lined with fur. The shooba 
reaches nearly to one's feet, and is better adapted to riding 
than walking. It can be lined according to the means and 



STUDIES OF THE LANGUAGE. 389 

liberality of the wearer. Sable is most expensive, and sheep- 
skin the least. Both accomplish the same end, as they con- 
tain about equal quantities of heat. 

The streets of Irkutsk are of good width and generally in- 
tersect at right angles. Most of the buildings are of wood, 
and usually large and well built. The best houses are of 
stone, or of brick covered with plaster to resemble stone. 
Very few dwellings are entered directly from the street, the 
outer doors opening into yards according to the Russian cus- 
tom. To visit a person you pass into an enclosure through a 
strong gateway, generally open by day but closed at night. 
A. l dvornik' (doorkeeper) has the control of this gate, and 
is responsible for everything within it. Storehouses and all 
other buildings of the establishment open upon the enclosure, 
and frequently two or more houses have one gate in common. 

The stores or magazines are numerous, and well supplied 
with European goods. Some of the stocks are very large, 
and must require heavy capital or excellent credit to manage 
them. Tailors and milliners are abundant, and bring their 
modes from Paris. Occasionally they paint their signs in 
French, and display the latest novelties from the center of 
fashion. Bakers are numerous and well patronized. ' Frant- 
soosM Met,' (French bread,) which is simply white bread 
made into rolls, is popular and largely sold in Irkutsk. 

One of my daily exercises in Russian was to spell the signs 
upon the stores. In riding I could rarely get more than half 
through a word before I was whisked out of sight. I never 
before knew how convenient are symbolic signs to a man who 
cannot read. A picture of a hat, a glove, or a loaf of bread 
was far more expressive to my eye than the word zhapka, 
perchatki, or Heb, printed in Russian letters. 

The Russians smoke a great deal of tobacco in paper cigar- 
ettes or ' papiros^ Everywhere east of Lake Baikal the pa- 
piros of Irkutsk is in demand, and the manufacture there is 
quite extensive. In Irkutsk and to the westward the brand 
of Moscow is preferred. The consumption of tobacco in this 
form throughout the empire must be something enormous. 



390 LOCATION OF THE SIBERIAN CAPITAL. 

I have known a party of half a dozen persons to smoke a 
hundred cigarettes in an afternoon and evening. Many ladies 
indulge in smoking, but the practice is not universal. I do 
not remember any unmarried lady addicted to it. 

Irkutsk was founded in 1680, and has at present a popula- 
tion of twenty-eight or thirty thousand. About four thousand 
gold miners spend the winter and their money in the city. 
Geographically it is in Latitude 52° 40' north, and Longitude 
104° 20' east from Greenwich. Little wind blows there, and 
storms are less frequent than at Moscow or St. Petersburg. 
The snows are not abundant, the quantity that falls being 




VIEW IN IKKUT8K. 



smaller than in Boston and very much less than in Montreal 
or Quebec. In summer or winter the panorama of Irkutsk 
and its surroundings is one of great beauty. 

There are twenty or more churches, of which nearly all 
are large and finely placed. Several of them were planned 
and constructed by two Swedish engineer officers captured at 
Pultawa and exiled to Siberia. They are excellent monu- 
ments of architectural skill, and would be ornamental to any 
European city. 

The Angara at Irkutsk is about six hundred yards wide, 
and flows with a current of six miles an hour. It varies in 



POLICE AND FIEE DEPARTMENT. 891 

height not more than ten or twelve inches during the entire 
year. It does not freeze until the middle of January, and 
opens early in May. There are two swinging ferries for 
crossing the river. A stout cable is anchored in mid-stream, 
and the ferry-boat attached to its unanchored end. The 
slack of the cable is buoyed by several small boats, over 
which it passes at regular intervals. The ferry swings like 
a horizontal pendulum, and is propelled by turning its sides 
at an angle against the current. I crossed on this ferry in 
four minutes from bank to bank. 

There are many public carriages in the streets, to be hired 
at thirty copecks the hour ; but the drivers, like their profes- 
sion everywhere, are inclined to overcharge. Every one who 
thinks he can afford it, keeps a team of his own, the horses 
being generally of European stock. A few horses have been 
brought from St. Petersburg ; the journey occupies a full 
year, and the animals, when safely arrived, are very costly. 
Private turnouts are neat and showy, and on a fine afternoon 
the principal drives of the city are quite gay. General Kor- 
sackoff has a light wagon from New York for his personal 
driving in summer. 

I found here a curious regulation. Sleighs are prohibited 
by municipal law from carrying bells in the limits of the city. 
Reason : in a great deal of noise pedestrians might be run 
over. In American cities the law requires bells to be worn. 
Reason : unless there is a noise pedestrians might be run 
over. 

" You pays your money and you takes your choice." 

Cossack policemen watch the town during the day, and at 
night there are mounted and foot patrols carrying muskets 
with fixed bayonets. Every block and sometimes every house 
has its private watchman, and at regular intervals during the 
night you may hear these guardians thumping their long- 
staves on the pavement to assure themselves and others that 
they are awake. The fire department belongs to the police, 
and its apparatus consists of hand engines, water carts, and 
hook and ladder wagons. There are several watch towers, 



392 RUSSIAN FIRE ENGINES. 

from which a semaphore telegraph signals the existence of 
fire. An electric apparatus was being arranged during my 
stay. 

During my visit there was an alarm of fire, and I embrac- 
ed the opportunity to see how the Russians ' run with the 
machine.' When I reached the street the engines and water 
carts were dashing in the direction of the fire. The water 
carts were simply large casks mounted horizontally on four 
wheels ; a square hole in the top served to admit a bucket or 
a suction hose. These carts bring water from the nearest 
point of supply, which may be the river or an artificial reser- 
voir, according to the locality of the fire. Engines and carts 
are drawn by horses, which appear well selected for strength 
and activity. All the firemen wore brass helmets. 

The burning house was small and quite disengaged from 
others, and as there was no wind there was no danger of a 
serious conflagration. The Chief of Police directed the 
movements of his men. The latter worked their engines 
vigorously, but though the carts kept in active motion the 
supply of water was not equal to the demand. For some 
time it seemed doubtful which would triumph, the flames or 
the police. Fortune favored the brave. The building was 
saved, though in a condition of incipient charcoalism. 

The Chief of Police wore his full uniform and decorations 
as the law requires of him when on duty. During the affair 
he was thoroughly spattered with water and covered with 
dirt and cinders. When he emerged he presented an appear- 
ance somewhat like that of a butterfly after passing through 
a sausage machine. A detachment of soldiers came to the 
spot but did not form a cordon around it. Every spectator 
went as near the fire as he thought prudent, but was careful 
not to get in the way. Two or three thousand officers, sol- 
diers, merchants, exiles, moujiks, women, boys, and beggars 
gathered in the street to look at the display. 

The Russian fire engines and water carts with their com- 
plement of men, and each drawn by three horses abreast, 
present a picturesque appearance as they dash through the 



WINE, WOOD, AND OTHER SUPPLIES. 893 

streets. The engines at Irkutsk are low-powered squirts, 
worked by hand, less effective than the hand engines used in 
America twenty or thirty years ago, and far behind our 
steamers of the present day. In Moscow and St. Petersburg 
the fire department has been greatly improved during the 
past ten years, and is now quite efficient. 

The markets of Irkutsk are well supplied with necessaries 
of life. Beef is abundant and*good, at an average retail price 
of seven copecks a pound. Fish and game are plentiful, and 
sell at low figures. The rebchik, or wood-hen, is found 
throughout Siberia, and is much cheaper in the market than 
any kind of domestic fowl. Pork, veal, and mutton are no 
more expensive than beef, and all vegetables of the country 
are at corresponding rates. In fact if one will eschew Euro- 
pean luxuries he can live very cheaply at Irkutsk. Every- 
thing that comes from beyond the Urals is expensive, on ac- 
count of the long land carriage. 

Champagne costs five or six roubles a bottle, and a great 
quantity of it is drank. Sherry is from two to seven roubles 
according to quality, and the same is the case witli white and 
red wines. The lowest price of sugar is thirty copecks the 
pound, and it is oftener forty-five or fifty. Porter and ale 
cost two or three roubles a bottle, and none but the best Eng- 
lish brands are drank. The wines are almost invariably ex- 
cellent, and any merchant selling even a few cases of bad 
wine would very likely lose his trade. Clothes and all articles 
of personal wear cost about as much as in St. Louis or New 
Orleans. Labor is neither abundant nor scarce. A good 
man-servant receives ten to fifteen roubles a month with 
board. 

Wood comes in soudnas from the shores of Lake Baikal 
and is very cheap. These vessels descend the river by the 
force of the current, but in going against it are towed by 
horses. The principal market place is surrounded with shops 
where a varied and miscellaneous lot of merchandise is sold. 
I found ready-made clothing, crockery, boots, whisky, hats, 
furniture, flour, tobacco, and so on through a long list of sale- 



394 



SCENES IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 



able and unsaleable articles. How such a mass could find 
customers was a puzzle. Nearly all the shops are small and 
plain, and there arc many stalls or stands which require but 
a small capital to manage. A great deal of haggling takes 
place in transactions at these little establishments, and I oc- 
casionally witnessed some amusing scenes. 

The best time to view the market is on Sunday morning, 
when the largest crowd is gathered. My first visit was made 
one Sunday when the thermometer stood at — 15° Fahren- 
heit. The market houses and the open square were full of 
people, and the square abounded in horses and sleds from the 
country. A great deal of traffic was conducted on these sleds 
or upon the solid snow-packed earth. The crowd comprised 
men, women, and children of all ages and all conditions in 

life. Peasants from the coun- 
try and laborers from the 
city, officers, tradesme n, 
heads of families, and fam- 
ilies without heads, busy men, 
and idlers, were mingled as 
at a popular gathering in 
City Hall Park. Everybody 
was in warm garments, the 
lower classes wearing coats 
and pelisses of sheepskin, 
while the others were in furs 
more or less expensive. Oc- 
casionally a drunken man 
was visible, but there were 
no indications of a tendency 
to fight. The intoxicated 
American, eight times out of 
ten, endeavors to quarrel 
with somebody, but our Mus- 
covite neighbor is of a different temperament. When drunk 
he falls to caressing and gives kisses in place of blows. 

The most novel sight that day in the market at Irkutsk 




A COLD ATTACHMENT. 



EFFECTS OF THE FROST. . 395 

was the embrace of two drunken peasants. They kissed each 
other so tenderly and so long that the intense cold congealed 
their breath and froze their beards together. I left them as 
they were endeavoring to arrange a separation. 

A few beggars circulated in the crowd and gathered here 
and there a copeck. 

The frost whitened the beards of the men and reddened 
the cheeks of the women. Where hands were bared to the 
breeze they were of a corned-beefy hue, and there were many 
persons stamping on the ground or swinging their arms to 
keep up a circulation. The little horses, standing, were white 
with frost, but none of them covered with blankets. The 
Siberian horses are not blanketed in winter, but I was told 
they did not suffer from cold. Their coats are thick and 
warm and frequently appear more like fur than hair. 

Everything that could be frozen had succumbed to the frost. 
There were frozen chickens, partridges, and other game, 
thrown in heaps like bricks or stove wood. Beef, pork, and 
mutton were alike solid, and some of the vendors had placed 
their animals in fantastic positions before freezing them. In 
one place I saw a calf standing as if ready to walk away. 
His skin remained, and at first sight I thought him alive, but 
was undeceived when a man overturned the unresisting beast. 
Frozen fish were piled carelessly in various places, and milk 
was offered for sale in cakes or bricks. A stick or string was 
generally frozen into a corner of the mass to facilitate carry- 
ing. One" could swing a quart of milk at his side or wrap it 
in his kerchief at discretion. 

There were many peripatetic dealers in cakes and tea, the 
latter carrying small kettles of the hot beverage, which they 
served in tumblers. Occasionally there was a man with a 
whole litter of sucking pigs frozen solid and slung over his 
shoulder or festooned into a necklace. The diminutive size 
of these pigs awakened reflections upon the brevity of swin- 
ish life. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

CUSTOM is the same at Irkutsk as in all fashionable soci- 
ety of the empire. Visits of ceremony are made in full 
dress — uniform for an officer and evening costume for a civ- 
ilian. Ceremonious calls are pretty short, depending of course 
upon the position and intimacy of the parties. The Russians 
are very punctilious in making and receiving visits. So 
many circumstances are to be considered that I was always 
in dread of making a mistake of etiquette somewhere. 

Nearly all my acquaintances in Irkutsk spoke French or 
English, though comparatively few conversed with me in the 
latter tongue. The facility with which the Russians acquire 
language has been often remarked. Almost all Russians 
who possess any education, are familiar with at least one lan- 
guage beside their own. Very often I found a person con- 
versant with two foreign languages, and it was no unusual 
thing to find one speaking three. I knew a young officer at 
Irkutsk who spoke German, French, English, and Swedish, 
and had a very fair smattering of Chinese, Manjour, and 
Japanese. A young lady there conversed well and charm- 
ingly in English, French, and German and knew something 
of Italian. It was more the exception than the rule that I 
met an officer with whom I could not converse in French. 
French is the society language of the Russian capital, and 
one of the first requisites in education. 

Children are instructed almost from infancy. Governesses 
are generally French or English, and conversation with their 
charges is rarely conducted in Russian. Tutors are gener- 
ally Germans familiar with French. There is no other coun- 
(396) 



RUSSIAN LINGUISTS 



397 



try in the world where those who can afford it are so atten- 
tive to the education of their children. This attention added 
to the peculiar temperament of the Russians makes them the 
best linguists in the world. 

An English gentleman and lad)', the latter speaking Rus- 
sian fluently, lived in Siberia several years. During their 
sojourn a son was born to them. It was a long time before 
he began talking, so long in fact, that his parents feared he 
would be dumb. When he commenced he was very soon 
fluent in both English and Russian. His long hesitation was 
doubtless caused by the confusion of two languages. 

The present emperor is an accomplished linguist, but no 
exception in this partic- 
ular to the Imperial fam- 
ily in general. The 
Queen of Greece, a niece 
of the Emperor of Rus- 
sia, is said to be very 
prompt to learn a new 
language whenever it 
comes in her way, and 
when she was selected 
for that royal position 
she conquered the great 
language in a very short 
time. French is the 
leading foreign language 
among the Russians, 
and the second rank is 
held by the German. 

Of late years English has become very popular, and is being 
rapidly acquired. The present entente cordiale between Rus- 
sia and the United States is exerting an influence for the 
increased study of our language. Why should we not return 
the compliment and bestow a little attention upon the Sla- 
vonic tongue ? 

Most persons in society at Irkutsk were from European 




QUEEN OF GREECE. 



398 PECULIARITIES OF SIBERIAN SOCIETY. 

Russia or had spent some time in Moscow at St. Petersburg. 
Of the native born Siberians there were few who had not 
made a journey beyond the Ural Mountains. Among the 
officials, St. Petersburg was usually the authority in the mat- 
ter of life and habit, while the civilians turned their eyes 
toward Moscow. Society in Irkutsk was not less polished 
than in the capitals, and it possessed the advantage of being 
somewhat more open and less rigid than under the shadow 
of the Imperial palace. Etiquette is etiquette in any part of 
the empire, and its forms must everywhere be observed. But 
after the social forms were complied with there was less stiff- 
ness than in European Russia. 

Some travelers declare that they found Siberian society 
more polished than that of Old Russia. On this point I can- 
not speak personally, as my stay in the western part of the 
empire was too brief to afford much insight into its life. There 
may be some truth in the statement. Siberia has received a 
great many individuals of high culture in the persons of its 
political exiles. ' Men of liberal education, .active intellects, 
and refined manners have been in large proportion among the 
banished Poles, and the exiles of 1825 included many of 
Russia's ablest minds. The influence of these exiles upon 
the intelligence, habits, and manners of the Siberians, has 
left an indelible mark. As a new civilization is more plastic 
than an old one, so the society of Northern Asia may have 
become more polished than that of Ancient Russia. 

I could learn of only six of my countrymen who had been 
at Irkutsk before me. Of these all but two passed through 
the city with little delay, and were seen by very few persons. 
I happened to reach Siberia when our iron-clad fleet was at 
Cronstadt, and its officers were being feasted at St. Peters- 
burg and elsewhere. The Siberians regretted that Mr. Fox 
and his companions could not visit them, and experience their 
hospitality. So they determined to expend their enthusiasm 
on the first American that appeared, and rather unexpectedly 
I became the recipient of the will of the Siberians toward 
the United States. 



AN OFFICIAL BANQUET. 399 

Two days after my arrival I was visited by Mr. Hamenof, 
one of the wealthiest merchants of Irkutsk. As he spoke 
only Russian, he was accompanied by my late fellow-traveler 
who came to interpret between us, and open the conversation 
with — 

" Mr. Hamenof presents his compliments, and wishes you 
to dine with him day after to-morrow." 

I accepted the invitation, and the merchant departed. Maack 
informed me that the dinner would be a ceremonious one, 
attended by the Governor General and leading officials. 

About forty persons were present, and seated according to 
rank. The tables were set on three sides of a square apart- 
ment, the post of honor being in the central position facing 
the middle of the room. The dinner was served in the 
French manner, and but for the language and uniforms around 
me, and a few articles in the bill of fare, I could have thought 
myself in a private parlor of the Trois Freres or the Cafe 
Anglais. 

Madame Ditmar, the wife of the governor of the Trans- 
Baikal, was the only lady present. When the champagne ap- 
peared, Mr. Hamenof proposed " The United States of Amer- 
ica," and prefaced his toast with a little speech to his Rus- 
sian guests. I proposed the health of the Emperor, and then 
the toasts became irregular and applied to the Governor Gen- 
eral, the master of the house, the ladies of Siberia, the Rus- 
so-American Telegraph, and various other persons, objects, 
and enterprises. 

From the dinner table we adjourned to the parlors where 
tea and coffee were brought, and most of the guests were 
very soon busy at the card tables. On reaching my room 
late at night, I found a Russian document awaiting me, and 
with effort and a dictionary, I translated it into an invitation 
to an official dinner with General Korsackoff. Five minutes 
before the appointed hour I accompanied a friend to the Gov- 
ernor General's house. As we entered, servants in military 
garb took our shoobas, and we were ushered into a large 
parlor. General Korsackoff and many of the invited guests 



400 



AN AFTER-DINNER SPEECH, 



were assembled in the parlor, and within two minutes the 
entire party had gathered. As the clock struck five the doors 
were thrown open, and the general led the way to the dining 
hall. 

I found at Irkutsk a great precision respecting appoint- 
ments. When dinners were to come off at a fixed hour all 
the guests assembled from three to ten minutes before the 
time specified. I never knew any one to come late, and all 
were equally careful not to come early. No one could be 
more punctual than General Korsackoff, and his example was 
no doubt carefully watched and followed. It is a rule through- 
out official circles in Russia, if I am correctly informed, that 
tardiness implies disrespect. Americans might take a few 
lessons of the Russians on the subject of punctuality. 

The table was liberally decorated with flowers and plants, 
and the whole surroundings were calculated to make one for- 
get that he was in cold and desolate Siberia. A band of music 
was stationed in the adjoining parlor, and furnished us with 

Russian and American 
airs. At the first toast 
General Korsackoff made 
a speech in Russian, re- 
counting the amity exist- 
ing between the two na- 
tions and the visit of our 
special embassy to con- 
gratulate the Emperor on 
his escape from assassin- 
ation. He thought the 
Siberians felt no less 
grateful at this mark of 
sympathy than did the 
people of European Rus- 
sia, and closed by pro- 




EMPEKOR OF RUSSIA. 



posm 



S, " The President, 



Congress, and People of the United States." 



A. LONG SPEECH. 401 

The toast was received with enthusiasm, the band playing 
Yankee Doodle as an accompaniment to the cheering. 

The speech was translated to me by Captain Linden, the 
private Secretary of the Governor General, who spoke French 
and English fluently. Etiquette required me to follow with 
a toast to the emperor in my little speech. I spoke slowly 
to facilitate the hearing of those who understood English. 
The Captain then translated it into Russian. 

General Korsackoff spoke about four minutes, and I think 
my response was of the same length. Both speeches were 
considered quite elaborate by the Siberians, and one officer 
declared it was the longest dinner-table address the general 
ever made. Two days later at another dinner I asked a 
friend to translate my remarks when I came to speak. He 
asked how long I proposed talking. 

" About three minutes," was my reply. 

"Oh," said he, " you had better make it one or two min- 
utes. You made a long speech at the Governor General's, 
and when you dine with a person of less importance he will 
not expect you to speak as much." 

I had not taken this view of the matter, as the American 
custom tends to brevity on the ascending rather than on the 
descending scale. 

Ten years earlier Major Collins dined with General Mou- 
ravieff in the same hall where I was entertained. After din- 
ner I heard a story at the expense of my enterprising prede- 
cessor. It is well known that the Major is quite a speech 
maker at home, and when he is awakened on a favorite sub- 
ject he has no lack either of ideas or words. 

On the occasion just mentioned, General Mouravieff gave 
the toast, " Russia and America," Major Collins rose to reply 
'. and after speaking six or eight minutes came to a pause. 
[Captain Martinoff, who understood English, was seated near 
the Major. As the latter stopped, General Mouravieff turned 
to the Captain and asked : 

" Will you be kind enough to translate what has been said ?" 

" Blagodariete" (he thanks you) said the captain. 
26 



402 THE AMOOE HOTEL. 

The Major proceeded six or eight minutes more and paused 
again. 

" Translate," was the renewed command of the Governor 
General. 

" He thanks you very much." 

Again another period of speech and the address was fin- 
ished. 

" Translate if you please," the general suggested once 
more to his aid. 

" He thanks you very much indeed." 

The Major was puzzled, and turning to Captain MartinofF 
remarked that the Russian language must be very compre- 
hensive when a speech of twenty minutes could be translated 
in three or four words. 

On days when I was disengaged I dined at the Amoorshi 
G-astinitza or Amoor Hotel. The hotel comprised two build- 
ings, one containing the rooms of lodgers, and the other de- 
voted to restaurant, dining and billiard rooms. In the dining 
department there were several rooms, a large one for a res- 
taurant and table d'hote, and the rest for private parties. 
Considering the general character of Russian hotels the one 
at Irkutsk was quite creditable. In its management, cookery, 
and service it would compare favorably with the establish- 
ments on Courtlandt Street or Park Row. 

In the billiard room there were two tables on which I 
sometimes complied with a request to ' show the American 
game.' The tables had six pockets each, and as the cues had 
no leather tips, there was an unpleasant clicking whenever 
they were used. The Russian game of billiards is played 
with five balls, and the science consists in pocketing the balls. 
The carom does not count. 

The first time I dined at the hotel the two candles burned 
dimly, and we called for a third. When it was brought the 
servant drew a small table near us and placed the extra can- 
dle upon it. I asked the reason for his doing so, and it was 
thus explained. 

There is a superstition in Russia that if three lighted can- 



"OPEN HOUSE" IN SIBERIA. 403 

dies are placed upon a table some one in the room will die 
within a year. Everybody endeavors to avoid such a calam- 
ity. If you have two candles and order another, the servant 
will place the third on a side table or he will bring a fourth 
and make your number an even one. 

There was formerly a theatre at Irkutsk, but it was burned 
a few years ago, and has not been rebuilt. During my stay 
there was a musical concert in the large hall of the officers' 
club, and a theatrical display was prepared but not concluded 
before my departure. At the concert a young officer, Captain 
Lowbry, executed on the piano several pieces of his own 
composition, and was heartily applauded by the listeners. 
Once a week there was a social party at the club house where 
dancing, cards, billiards, and small talk continued till after 
midnight. 

Nearly every one in society kept ' open house ' daily. In 
most of the families where I was acquainted tea was taken 
at 8 P. M., and any friend could call at that hour without 
ceremony. The samovar was placed on the table, and one 
of the ladies presided over the tea. Those who wished it 
could sit at table, but there was no formal spreading of the 
cloth. Tea was handed about the room and each one took it 
at his liking. I have seen in these social circles a most 
pleasing irregularity in tea drinking. Some were seated on 
sofas and chairs, holding cups and saucers in their hands or 
resting them upon tables ; other stood in groups of two, three, 
or more ; others were at cards, and sipped their tea at inter- 
vals of the games ; and a few were gathered around the 
hostess at the samovar. The time passed in whatever amuse- 
ments were attainable. There were cards for some and con- 
versation for others, with piano music, little dances and gen- 
eral sports of considerable variety. Those evenings at 
Irkutsk were delightful, and I shall always remember them 
with pleasure. 

What with visits, dinners, balls, suppers, social evenings, 
and sleigh rides, I had little time to myself, and though I 
economized every minute I did not succeed in finishing my 



404 VISITING A RUSSIAN HOUSE. 

letters and journal until the very day before my departure. 
The evening parties lasted pretty late. They generally closed 
with a supper toward the wee small hours, and the good nights 
were not spoken until about two in the morning. 

There is a peculiarity about a Russian party, — whether a 
quiet social assemblage or a stately ball, — that the whole 
house is thrown open. In America guests are confined to the 
parlors and the dancing and supper apartments, from the 
time they leave the cloaking rooms till they prepare for de- 
parture. In Russia they can wander pretty nearly where 
they please, literally " up stairs, down stairs, or in my lady's 
chamber." Of course all the rooms are prepared for visitors, 
but I used at first to feel a shrinking sensation when I saunt- 
ered into the private study and work room of my official host, 
or found myself among the scent bottles and other toilet 
treasures of a lady acquaintance.' This literal keeping of 
' open house ' materially assists to break the stiffness of an 
assemblage though it can hardly be entirely convenient to the 
hosts. 

Immediately after my entertainment with General Kor- 
sackoff, the mayor of Irkutsk invited me to an official dinner 
at his house. This was followed a few days later by a similar 
courtesy on the part of Mr. Trepaznikoff, the son of a wealthy 
merchant who died a few years ago. Private dinners fol- 
lowed in rapid succession until I was qualified to speak with 
practical knowledge of the Irkutsk cuisine. No stranger in 
a strange land was ever more kindly taken in, and no hospi- 
tality was ever bestowed with less ostentation. I can join in 
the general testimony of travelers that the Russians excel in 
the ability to entertain visitors. 

Mr. Kartesheftsoff, the Mayor, or G-olovah as he is called, 
resided in a large house that formerly belonged to Prince 
Trubetskoi, one of the exiles of 1825. My host was an ex- 
tensive owner of gold mines, and had been very successful in 
working them. He was greatly interested in the means em- 
ployed in California for separating gold from earth, and es- 
pecially in the ' hydraulic ' process. On my first visit Madame 



A STEANGE EIVER. 



405 



Kartesheftsoff spoke very little French. She must have sub- 
mitted her studies to a thorough revision as I found her a 
week later able to conduct a conversation with ease. There 
were other instances of a vigorous oyerhauling of disused 
French and English that furnished additional proof of the 
Russian adaptability to foreign tongues. 

To reach the golovah's house we crossed the Ouska-kofka, 
a small river running through the northern part of Irkutsk ; 
it had been recently frozen, and several rosy-cheeked boys 
were skating on the ice. The view from the bridge is quite 
picturesque, and the little valley forms a favorite resort in 
certain seasons of the year. The water of the Ouska-kofka 
is said to be denser than that of the Angara, and on that ac- 
count is preferred for culinary purposes. 




CHAPTER XXXYI. 

I HAVE made occasional mention of the exiles of 1825, 
and it may be well to explain how they went to Siberia. 
In the early part of the present century Russia was not alto- 
gether happy. The Emperor Paul, called to the throne by 
the death of Catherine II., did not display marked ability, 
but, ' on the contrary, quite the reverse.' What his mother 
had done for the improvement of the country he was inclined 
to undo. Under his reign great numbers were banished to 
Siberia upon absurd charges or mere caprice. The emperor 
issued manifestoes of a whimsical character, one of which 
was directed against round hats, and another against shoe 
strings. The glaring colors now used upon bridges, distance 
posts, watch boxes, and other imperial property, were of his 
selection, and so numerous were his eccentricities that he 
was declared of unsound mind. In March, 1801, he was 
smothered in his palace, which he had just completed. It is 
said that within an hour after the fact of his death was 
known round hats appeared on the street in- great numbers. 

Alexander I. endeavored to repair some of the evils of his 
father's reign. He recalled many exiles from Siberia, sup- 
pressed the secret inquisition, and restored many rights of 
which the people had been deprived. His greatest abilities 
were displayed during the wars with France. After the gen- 
eral peace he devoted himself to inspecting and developing 
the resources of the country, and was the first, and thus far 
the only, emperor of Russia to cross the Ural Mountains and 
visit the mines of that region. His death occurred during a 
tour through the southern provinces of the empire. Some 

(406) 



THE INSURRECTION OF 1825. 407 

of his reforms were based upon the principles of other Euro- 
pean governments, which he endeavored to study. On his 
return from England he told his council that the best thing 
he saw there was the opposition in Parliament. He thought 
it a part of the government machinery, and regretted it could 
not be introduced in Russia. 

Constantine, the eldest brother of Alexander I., had relin- 
quished his right to the crown, thus breaking the regular suc- 
cession. From the time of Paul a revolutionary party had 
existed, and once at least it plotted the assassination of Alex- 
ander. There was an interregnum of three weeks between 
the death of Alexander and the assumption of power by his 
second brother, Nicholas. The change of succession strength- 
ened the revolutionists, and they employed the interregnum 
to organize a conspiracy for seizing the government. 

The conspiracy was wide spread, and included many of the 
ablest men of the day. The army was seriously implicated. 
The revolutionists desired a constitutional government, and 
their rallying cry of " Constitutia ! " was explained to the 
soldiers as the name of Constantine's wife. The real design 
of the movement was not confided to the rank and file, who 
supposed they were fighting for Constantine and the regular 
succession of the throne. 

Nicholas learned of the conspiracy the day before his as- 
cension ; the Imperial guard of the palace was in the plot, 
and expected to seize the emperor's person. The guard was 
removed during the night and a battalion from Finland sub- 
stituted. It is said that on receiving intelligence of the as- 
sembling of the insurgents, the emperor called his wife to 
the chapel of the palace, where he spent a few moments in 
prayer. Then taking his son, the present emperor, he led 
him to the soldiers of the new guard, confided him to their 
protection, and departed for St. Isaac's Square to suppress 
the revolt. The soldiers kept the boy until the emperor's re- 
turn, and would not even surrender him to his tutor. 

The plot was so wide-spread that the conspirators had good 
promise of success, but whole regiments backed out at the 



408 ACCESSION OF NICHOLAS. 

last moment and left only a forlorn hope to begin the strug- 
gle. Nicholas rode with his officers to St. Isaac's square, and 
twice commanded the assembled insurgents to surrender. 
They refused, and were then saluted with " the last argument 
of kings." A storm of grape shot, followed by a charge of 
cavalry, put in flight all who were not killed, and ended the 
insurrection. 

A long and searching investigation followed, disclosing all 
the ramifications of the plot. The conspirators declared they 
were led to what they undertook by the unfortunate condition 
of the country and the hope of improving it. Nicholas, con- 
cealed behind a screen, heard most of the testimony and con- 
fessions, and learned therefrom a wholesome lesson. The 
end of the affair was the execution of five principal conspir- 
ators and the banishment of many others to Siberia. The 
five that suffered capital punishment were hanged in front of 
the Admiralty buildings in St. Petersburg. One rope was 
broken, and the victim, falling to the ground, suffered such 
agony that the officer in charge of the execution sent to the 
emperor asking what to do. " Take a new rope and finish 
your duty," was the unpitying answer of Nicholas. 

The accession of Nicholas and the attempted revolt occur- 
red on the 14th December, (0. S.) 1825. Within six months 
from that date the most of the conspirators reached Siberia. 
They were sent to different districts, some to labor in the 
mines for specified periods, and others to become colonists. 
They included some of the ablest men in Russia, and were 
nearly all young and enterprising. Many of them were mar- 
ried, and were followed into exile by their wives, though the 
latter were only permitted to go to Siberia on condition of 
never returning. Each of the exiles was deprived of all civil 
or political rights, and declared legally dead. His property 
was confiscated to the crown, and his wife considered a widow 
and could marry again if she chose. To the credit of the 
Russian women, not one availed herself of this privilege. I 
was told that nearly every married exile's family followed 



THE DECEMBRISTS IN SIBERIA. 



409 



him, and some of the unmarried ones were followed by their 
sisters and mothers. 

I have previously spoken of the effect of the unfortunates 
of the 14th December upon the society and manners of Si- 
beria. These men enjoyed good social positions, and their 

political faults d i d 
not prevent their be- 
i n g well received. 
Their sentence to 
labor in the mines 
was not rigorously 
enforced, and lasted 
but two or three 




\if\ 



HOME OF TWO EXILES. 



years at farthest. They were subsequently employed at in- 
door work, and, as time wore on and passion subsided, were 
allowed to select residences in villages. Very soon they were 
permitted to go to the larger towns, and once there, those 
whose wives possessed property in their own right built them- 
selves elegant houses and took the position to which their 
abilities entitled them. 

General Korsackoff told me that when he first went to 
serve in Siberia there was a ball one evening at the Governor 
General's. Noticing one man who danced the Mazurka 
splendidly, he whispered to General Mouravieff and asked 
his name. 



410 PARDON OP THE EXILES. 

" That," said Mouravieff, " is a revolutionist of 1825. He 
is one of the best men of society in Irkutsk." 

After their first few years of exile, the Decembrists had 
little to complain of except the prohibition to return to Eu- 
rope. To men whose youth was passed in brilliant society 
and amid the gayeties of the capital, this life in Siberia was 
no doubt irksome. Year after year went by, and on the 
twenty-fifth anniversary of their banishment they looked for 
pardon. Little else was talked of among them for some 
weeks, but they were doomed to disappointment. Nicholas 
had no forgiving disposition, and those who plotted his over- 
throw were little likely to obtain favor, even though a quarter 
of a century had elapsed since their crime. 

But the death of Nicholas and the coronation of Alexander 
II. wrought a change for the exiles. Nicholas began his reign 
with an act of severity ; Alexander followed his ascension 
with one of clemency. By imperial ukase he pardoned the 
exiles of 1825, restored them to their civil and political 
rights, and permitted their return to Europe. As the fathers 
were legally dead when sent into exile, the children born to 
them in Siberia were illegitimate in the eye of the law and 
could not even bear their own family name. Properly they 
belonged to the government, and inherited their father's exile 
in not being permitted to go to Europe. The ukase removed 
all these disabilities and gave the children full authority to 
succeed to their father's hereditary titles and social and po- 
litical rights. 

These exiles lived in different parts of Siberia, but chiefly 
in the governments of Irkutsk and Yeneseisk. But the thirty 
years of the reign of Nicholas were not uneventful. Death 
removed some of the unfortunates. Others had dwelt so 
long in Siberia that they did not wish to return to a society 
where they would be strangers. Some who were unmarried 
at the time of their exile had acquired families in Siberia, and 
thus fastened themselves to the country. Not more than 
half of those living at the time of Alexander's coronation 
availed themselves of his permission to return to Russia. 



EELATIONS OF RUSSIA AND POLAND. 411 

The princes Trubetskoi and Volbonskoi hesitated for some 
time, but finally concluded to return. Both died in Europe 
quite recently. Their departure was regretted by many per- 
sons in Irkutsk, as their absence was quite a loss to society. 
I heard some curious reminiscences concerning the Prince 
Volbonskoi. It was said that his wife and children, with the 
servants, were the occupants of the large and elegant house, 
the prince living in a small building in the court yard. He 
had a farm near the town and sold the various crops to his 
wife. Both the princes paid great attention to educating 
their children and fitting them for ultimate social position in 
Europe. 

"While in Irkutsk I saw one of the Decembrists who had 
grown quite wealthy as a wine merchant. Another of these 
exiles was mentioned, but I did not meet him. Another re- 
sided at Selenginsk, a third near Yerkne Udinsk, and a fourth 
near Lake Baikal. There are several at other points, but I 
believe the whole number of the Decembrists now in Siberia 
is less than a dozen. Forty-two years have brought them to 
the brink of the grave, and very soon the active spirits of 
that unhappy revolt will have passed away. 

The other political exiles in Siberia are almost entirely 
Poles. Every insurrection in Poland adds to the population 
of Asiatic Russia, and accomplishes very little else. The re- 
volt of 1831 was prolific in this particular, and so was that 
of 1863. Revolutions in Poland have been utterly hopeless 
of success since the downfall and division of the kingdom, 
but the Poles remain undaunted. 

I do not propose entering into a discussion of the Polish 
question, as it would occupy too much space and be foreign 
to the object of my book ; but I will briefly touch a few points. 
The Russians and Poles were not inclined to amiability when 
both had separate governments. Europe has never been con- 
verted to Republican principles, and however much the West- 
ern powers may sympathize with Poland, they would be un- 
willing to adopt for themselves the policy they desire for 
Russia. England holds India and Ireland, regardless of the 



412 POLISH EXILES IN SIBEEIA. 

will of Indians and Irish. France has her African territory 
which did not ask to be taken under the tri-color, and we are 
all aware of the relations once held by her emperor toward 
Mexico. It is much easier to look for generosity and for- 
bearance in others than in ourselves. 

Those who are disposed to shed tears over the fate of Po- 
land, should remember that the unhappy country has only 
suffered the fortune of war. When Russia and Poland be- 
gan to measure swords the latter was the more powerful, and 
for a time overran a goodly portion of the Muscovite soil. 
"We all know there has been a partition of Poland, but are 
we equally aware that the Russia of Rurik and Ivan IY. was 
partitioned in 1612 by the Swedes (at Novgorod) and the 
Poles (at Moscow ?) In 1612 the Poles held Moscow. The 
Russians rose against them in that year, just as the Poles 
have since risen against the Russians, but with a different 
result. 

The Polish exiles of 1831 and previous years were pardon- 
ed by the same ukase that liberated the Russian exiles of 
1825. Just before the insurrection of 1863 there were not 
many Poles in Siberia, except those who remained of their 
own free will. The last insurrection caused a fresh deporta- 
tion, twenty-four thousand being banished beyond the Ural 
Mountains. Ten thousand of these were sent to Eastern 
Siberia, the balance being distributed in the governments 
west of the Yenesei. The decree of June, 1867, allowed 
many of these prisoners to return to Poland. 

The government has always endeavored to scatter the ex- 
iles and prevent their congregating in such numbers as to 
cause inconvenience. The prime object of deportation to 
Siberia is to people the country and develop its natural wealth. 
Though Russia occupies nearly an eighth of the land on the 
face of the globe, her population numbers but about seventy 
millions. It is her policy to people her territory, and she 
bends her energies to this end. She does not allow the emi- 
gration of her subjects to any appreciable extent, and she 
punishes but few crimes with death. Notwithstanding her 



THE SENTENCES OF EXILES. 413 

general tolerance on religious matters, she punishes with 
severity a certain sect that discourages propagation. There 
are other facts I might mention as illustrations were it not 
for the fastidiousness of the present age. Siberia is much 
more in need of population than European Russia, and exiles 
are sent thither to become inhabitants. 

So far as the matter of sentence goes there is little differ- 
ence between political and criminal exiles. The sentence is 
in accordance with the offence to be punished, and may be 
light or severe. Some exiles are simply banished to Siberia, 
and can do almost anything except go away. They may 
travel as they choose, engage in business, and even hold offic- 
ial position. It is no bar to their progress that they emi- 
grated involuntarily. If they forget their evil ways and are 
good citizens, others will be equally oblivious and encourage 
them. They have special inducements to become colonists 
and till the soil or develop its mineral wealth. With honesty 
and industry they have at least a fair chance in life. 

Some exiles are confined to certain districts, governments, 
towns, or villages, and must report at stated intervals to the 
Chief of Police. These intervals are not the same in all 
cases, but vary from one day to a month, or even more. 
Some are not allowed to go beyond specified limits without 
express permission from the authorities, while others may 
absent themselves as they choose during the intervals of re- 
porting to the police. Some can engage in whatever business 
they find advantageous, while others are prohibited certain 
employments but not restricted as to others. 

If a man is sentenced to become a colonist, the govern- 
ment gives him a house or means to build it, a plot of ground, 
and the necessary tools. He is not allowed to be anything 
else than a colonist. Criminals of a certain grade cannot 
engage in commerce, and the same restriction applies to 
' politiques.' No criminal can be a teacher, either in a public 
or private school, and no politique can teach in a public 
school. While I was in Siberia an order was issued prohib- 



414 RESTRICTIONS AND SOCIAL COMFORTS. 

iting the latter class engaging in any kind of educational 
work except music, drawing, and painting. 

Many criminal and political offenders are i drafted in the 
army' in much the same manner that our prisons sent their 
able-bodied men into military service during our late war. 
Their terms of enlistment are various, but generally not less 
than fifteen years. The men receive the pay and rations of 
soldiers, and have the possibility of promotion before them. 
They are sent to regiments stationed at distant posts in order 
to diminish the chances of desertion. The Siberian and 
Caucasian regiments receive the greater portion of these re- 
cruits. Many members of the peculiar religious sect men- 
tioned elsewhere are sent to the Caucasian frontier. They 
are said to be very tractable and obedient, but not reliable for 
aggressive military operations. 

An exile may receive from his friends money to an amount 
not exceeding twenty-five roubles a month. If his wife has 
property of her own she may enjoy a separate income. Those 
confined in prisons or kept at labor may receive money to the 
same extent, but it must pass through the hands of the offi- 
cials. Of course the occupants of prisons are fed by govern- 
ment, and so are those under sentence of hard labor. The 
men restricted to villages and debarred from profitable em- 
ployment receive monthly allowances in money and flour, 
barely enough for their subsistence. There are complaints 
that dishonest officials steal a part of these allowances, but 
the practice is not as frequent as formerly. A prisoner's 
comfort in any part of the world depends in a great measure 
upon the character of the officer in charge of him. Siberia 
offers no exception to this rule. 

Formerly the Polish exiles enjoyed more social freedom 
than at present. The course of the change was thus ex- 
plained to me : 

Five or six years ago a Polish noble who had been exiled 
lived at Irkutsk and enjoyed the friendship of several officers. 
The Amoor had been recently opened, and this man asked 
and obtained the privilege of visiting it, giving his parole not 



HOW THE PRISONERS TRAVEL. 415 

to leave Siberia. At Nicolayevsk he embraced the oppor- 
tunity to escape, and advised others to do the same. This 
breach of confidence led to greater circumspection, and the 
distrust was increased by the conduct of other exiles. Since 
that time the Poles have been under greater restraint. 

Many books on Russia contain interesting stories of the 
brutality toward exiles, both on the road and after they have 
reached their destination. Undoubtedly there have been in- 
stances of cruelty, just as in every country in Christendom, 
but I do not believe the Russians are worse in this respect 
than other people. I saw a great many exiles during my 
journey through Siberia. Frequently when on the winter 
road I met convoys of them, and never observed any evidence 
of needless severity. Five-sixths of the exiles I met on the 
road were in sleighs like those used by Russian merchants 
when traveling. There were generally three persons in a 
sleigh, and I thought them comfortably clad. I could see no 
difference between them and their guards, except that the 
latter carried muskets and sabres. Any women among them 
received special attention, particularly when they were young 
and pretty. I saw two old ladies who were handled tenderly 
by the soldiers and treated with apparent distinction. When 
exiles were on foot, their guards marched with them and the 
women of the party rode in sleighs. 

The object of deportation is to people Siberia ; if the gov- 
ernment permitted cruelties that caused half of the exiles to 
die on the road, as some accounts aver, it would be inconsist- 
ent with its policy. As before mentioned, the ripe age to 
which most of the Decembrists lived, is a proof that they 
were not subjected to physical torture. In the eyes of the 
government these men were the very worst offenders, and if 
they did not suffer hardships and cruelties it is not probable 
that all others would be generally ill-used. I do not for a 
moment suppose exile is either attractive or desirable, but, 
so far as I know, it does not possess the horrors attributed to 
it. The worst part of exile is to be sent to hard labor, but 
the unpleasant features of such punishment are not confined 



416 EMPLOYMENTS FOE EXILES. 

to Siberia. Plenty of testimony on this point can be obtain- 
ed at Sing Sing and Pentonville. 

It is unpleasant to leave one's home and become an invol- 
untary emigrant to a far country. The Siberian road is one 
I would never travel out of pure pleasure, and I can well un- 
derstand that it must be many times disagreeable when one 
journeys unwillingly. But, once in Siberia, the worldly cir- 
cumstances of many exiles are better than they were at home. 
If a man can forget that he is deprived of liberty, and I pre- 
sume this is the most difficult thing of all, he is not, under 
ordinary circumstances, very badly off in Siberia. Certainly 
many exiles choose to remain when their term of banishment 
is ended. A laboring man is better paid for his services and 
is more certain of employment than in European Russia. 
He leads a more independent life and has better prospects of 
advancement than in the older civilization. Many Poles say 
they were drawn unwillingly into the acts that led to their 
exile, and if they return home they may be involved in like 
trouble again. In Poland they are at the partial mercy of 
malcontents who have nothing to lose and can never remain 
at ease. In Siberia there are no such disturbing influences. 

About ten thousand exiles are sent to Siberia every year. 
Except in times of political disturbance in Poland or else- 
where, nearly all the exiles are offenders against society or 
property. The notion that they are generally ' politiques,' is 
very far from correct. As well might one suppose the major- 
ity of the convicts at Sing Sing were from the upper classes 
of New York. The regular stream of exiles is composed al- 
most entirely of criminal offenders ; occasional floods of 
revolutionists follow the attempts at independence. 

I made frequent inquiries concerning the condition of the 
exiles, and so far as I could learn they were generally well 
off. I say ' generally,' because I heard of some cases of pov- 
erty and hardship, and doubtless there were others that I 
never heard of. A large part of the Siberian population is 
made up of exiles and their descendants. A gentleman fre- 
quently sent me his carriage during my stay at Irkutsk. It 



EXILING THE SEEPS. 417 

was managed by an intelligent driver "who pleased me with 
his skill and dash. One evening, when he was a little in- 
toxicated, my friend and myself commented in French on 
his condition, and were a little surprised to find that he un- 
derstood us. He was an exile from St. Petersburg, where he 
had been coachman to a French merchant. 

The clerk of the hotel was an exile, and so was one of the 
waiters. Isvoshchiks, or hackmen, counted many exiles in 
their ranks, and so did laborers of other professions. Occa- 
sionally clerks in stores, market men, boot makers, and tail- 
ors ascribed their exile to some discrepancy between their 
conduct and the laws. I met a Polish gentleman in charge 
of the museum of the geographical society of Eastern Siberia, 
and was told that the establishment rapidly improved in his 
hands. Two physicians of Irkutsk were ' unfortunates' from 
Warsaw, and one of them had distanced all competitors in 
the extent and success of his practice. Then there were 
makers of cigarettes, dealers in various commodities, and 
professors of divers arts. Some of the educated Siberians I 
met told me they had been taught almost entirely by exiles. 

Before the abolition of serfdom a proprietor could send his 
human property into exile. He was not required to give any 
reason, the record accompanying the order of banishment 
stating only that the serf was exiled " by the will of his mas- 
ter." This privilege was open to enormous abuse, but happi- 
ly the ukase of liberty has removed it. The design of the 
system was no doubt to enable proprietors to rid themselves 
of serfs who were idle, dissolute, or quarrelsome, but had not 
committed any act the law could touch. 

A proprietor exiling a serf was required to pay his travel- 
ing expenses of twenty-five roubles, and to furnish him an 
outfit of summer and winter clothing. A wife was allowed 
to follow her husband, with all their children not matured, 
and all their expenses were to be paid. The abuse of the 
system consisted in the power to banish a man who had com- 
mitted no offence at all. The loss of services and the ex- 
pense of exiling a serf may have been a slight guarantee 
27 



418 EULES GOVERNING SEEFS. 

against this, but if the proprietor were an unprincipled tyrant 
or a sensualist, (and he might be both,) there was no protec- 
tion for his subjects. It has happened that the best man on 
an estate incurred the displeasure of his owner and went to 
Siberia in consequence. Exile is a severe punishment to the 
Russian peasant, who clings with enduring tenacity to the 
place where his youthful days were passed. 

Every serf exiled for a minor offense or at the will of his 
master was appointed on his arrival in Siberia to live in a 
specified district. If he could produce a certificate of good 
behavior at the end of three years, he was authorized to clear 
and cultivate as much land as he wished. If single he could 
marry, but he was not compelled to do so. He was exempt 
from taxes for twelve years, and after that only paid a trifle. 
He had no master and could act for himself in all things ex- 
cept in returning to Russia. He was under the disadvantage 
of having no legal existence, and though the land he worked 
was his own and no one could disturb him, he did not hold it 
under written title. The criminal who served at labor in the 
mines was placed, at the expiration of his sentence, in the 
same category as the exile for minor offences. Both cultivat- 
ed land in like manner and on equal terms. Some became 
wealthy and were able to secure the privileges of citizenship. 




CHAPTER XXXVII. 

THE descendants of exiles are in much greater number 
than the exiles themselves. Eastern Siberia is mainly 
peopled by them, and Western Siberia very largely so. They 
are all free peasants and enjoy a condition far superior to 
that of the serf under the system prevalent before 1859. 
Many of them have become wealthy through gold mining, 
commerce, and agriculture, and occupy positions they never 
could have obtained had they lived in European Russia. I 
know a merchant whose fortune is counted by millions, and 
who is famous through Siberia for his enterprise and gener- 
osity. He is the son of an exiled serf and has risen by his 
own ability. Since I left Siberia I learn with pleasure that 
the emperor has honored him with a decoration. Many of 
the prominent merchants and proprietary miners were men- 
tioned to me as examples of the prosperity of the second and 
third generation from banished men. I was told particularly 
of a wealthy gold miner whose evening of life is cheered by 
an ample fortune and two well educated children. Forty 
years ago his master capriciously sent him to Siberia. The 
man found his banishment ' the best thing that could happen.' 
The system of serfdom never had any practical hold in 
Siberia. There was but one Siberian proprietor of serfs in 
existence at the time of the emancipation. This was Mr. 
RodinkofF of Krasnoyarsk, whose grandfather received a 
grant of serfs and a patent of nobility from the empress 
Catherine. None of the family, with a single exception, ever 
attempted more than nominal exercise of authority over the 
peasants, and this one paid for his imprudence with his life. 

(419) 



420 PETEK I. AND ALEXANDER II. 

He attempted to put in force his full proprietary rights, and 
the result was his death by violence during a visit to one of 
his estates. 

The difference between the conditions of the Russian and 
Siberian peasantry was that between slavery and freedom. 
The owner of serfs had rarely any common interest with his 
people, and his chief business was to make the most out of 
his human property. Serfdom was degrading to master and 
serf, just as slavery degraded owner and slave. The moujik 
bore the stamp of servility as the negro slaye bore it, and it 
will take as much time to wear it away in the one as the 
other. Centuries of oppression in Eussia could not fail to 
open a wide gulf between the nobility and those who obeyed 
them. Thanks to Alexander the work of filling this gulf 
has begun, but it will require many years and much toil to 
complete.it. 

The comparative freedom enjoyed in Siberia was not with- 
out visible result. The peasants were more prosperous than 
in Russia, they lived in better houses and enjoyed more real 
comforts of life. The absence of masters and the liberty to 
act for themselves begat an air of independence in the peas- 
ant class that contrasted agreeably with the cringing servility 
of the serf. Wealth was open to all who sought it, and the 
barriers between "the different ranks of society were partially 
broken down. The peasants that acquired wealth began to 
cultivate refined tastes. They paid more attention to the 
education of their children than was shown by the same class 
in Russia, and the desire for education rapidly increased. 
The emancipation of the serfs in Russia was probably brought 
about by the marked superiority of the Siberian population 
in prosperity and intelligence. 

In coming ages the Russians will revere the name of Alex- 
ander not less than that of Peter the Great. To the latter 
is justly due the credit of raising the nation from barbarism ; 
the former has the immortal honor of removing the stain of 
serfdom. The difficulties in the way were great and the em- 
peror had few supporters, but he steadily pursued his object 



A REVOLT OP PRISONERS. 421 

and at length earned the eternal gratitude of his people. 
Russia is yet in her developing stage. The shock of the 
change was severe and not unattended with danger, but the 
critical period is passed, and the nation has commenced a 
career of freedom. The serf has been awakened to a new 
life, and his education is just commencing. Already there 
is increased prosperity in some parts of the empire, showing 
that the free man understands his new condition. The pro- 
prietors who were able to appreciate and prepare for the 
change hare been positively benefited, while others who con- 
tinued obstinate were ruined. On the whole the derange- 
ment by the transition has been less than many friends of the 
measure expected, and by no means equal to that prophesied 
by its opponents. But the grandest results in the nation's 
progress are yet to come, and it is from future generations 
that Alexander will receive his warmest praise. 

The working of mines on government account has greatly 
diminished in the past few years, and the number of hard 
labor convicts in Siberia more than equals the capacity of 
the mines. When the political exiles, after the revolution of 
1863, arrived at Irkutsk, the mines were already filled with 
convicts. The ' politiques ' sentenced to hard labor were em- 
ployed in building roads, most of them being sent to the 
southern end of Lake Baikal. In June, 1866, seven hundred 
and twenty prisoners were sent to this labor, and divided into 
eight or ten parties to work on as many sections of the road. 
Before the end of the month a revolt occurred. Various ac- 
counts have been given and different motives assigned for it. 
I was told by several Poles that the prisoners were half starv- 
ed, and the little food they received was bad. Hunger and a 
desire to escape were the motives to the insurrection. On 
the other hand the Russians told me the prisoners were pro- 
perly fed, and the revolt must be attributed entirely to the 
hope of escaping from Siberia. 

I obtained from an officer, who sat on the court-martial 
which investigated the affair, the following particulars : 

On the 24th of June, (0. S.,) the working party at Koul- 



422 



PARTICULARS OF THE OUTBREAK. 



toukskoi, the western end of the road, disarmed its guard by 
a sudden and bloodless attack. The insurgents then moved 
eastward along the line of the road, and on their way over- 
powered successively the guards of the other parties. Many 
of the prisoners refused to take part in the affair and remain- 
ed at their work. A Polish officer named Sharamovitch as- 
sumed command of the insurgents, who directed their march 
toward Posolsky. 




TARTAR CAAALRY. 



As soon as news of the affair reached Irkutsk, the Gov- 
ernor General ordered a battalion of soldiers by steamer to 
Posolsky. On the 28th of June a fight occurred at the river 
Bestriya. The insurgents were defeated with a loss of twenty- 



THE FINDING AND SENTENCE. 423 

five or thirty men, while the force sent against them lost five 
men and one officer. The Polish leader was among the killed. 
After the defeat the insurgents separated in small bands and 
fled into the mountains. They were pursued by Tartar cav- 
alry, who scoured the country thoroughly and retook all the 
fugitives. The insurrection caused much alarm at its out- 
break, as it was supposed all prisoners in Siberia were in the 
conspiracy. Exaggerated reports were spread, and all possi- 
ble precautions taken, but they proved unnecessary. The 
conspiracy extended no farther than the working parties on 
the Baikal road. 

The prisoners were brought to Irkutsk, where a court-mar- 
tial investigated the affair. A Russian court-martial does 
not differ materially from any other in the manner of its pro- 
ceedings. It requires positive evidence for or against a per- 
son accused, and, like other courts, gives him the benefit of 
doubts. My informant told me that the court in this case 
listened to all evidence that had any possible bearing on the 
question. The sitting continued several weeks, and after 
much deliberation the court rendered a finding and sentence. 

In the finding the prisoners were divided into five grades, 
and their sentences accorded with the letter of the law. The 
first grade comprised seven persons, known to have been 
leaders in the revolt. These were sentenced to be shot. In 
the second grade there were a hundred and ninety-seven, who 
knew the design to revolt and joined in the insurrection. 
One-tenth of these were to suffer death, the choice being 
made by lot ; the remainder were sentenced to twenty years 
labor. The third grade comprised a hundred and twenty-two, 
ignorant of the conspiracy before the revolt, but who joined 
the insurgents. These received an addition of two or three 
years to their original sentences to labor. The fourth grade 
included ninety-four men, who knew the design to revolt but 
refused to join the insurgents. These were sentenced " to 
remain under suspicion." In the fifth and last grade there 
were two hundred and sixty, who were ignorant of the con- 
spiracy and remained at their posts. Their innocence was 



424 EXECUTION OF FOUR INSURGENTS. 

fully established, and, of course, relieved them from all 
charge. 

It was found that the design of the insurgents was to es- 
cape into Mongolia and make their way to Pekin. This 
would have been next to impossible, for two reasons : the 
character of the country, and the treaty between China and 
Russia. The region to be traversed from the Siberian fron- 
tier toward Pekin is the Mongolian steppe or desert. The 
only food obtainable on the steppe is mutton from the flocks 
of the nomad inhabitants. These are principally along the 
road from Kiachta, and even there are by no means numer- 
ous. The escaping exiles in avoiding the road to ensure 
safety would have run great risk of starvation. The treaty 
between China and Russia requires that fugitives from one 
empire to the other shall be given up. Had the exiles suc- 
ceeded in crossing Mongolia and reaching the populous parts 
of China, they would have been once more in captivity and 
returned to Russian hands. 

The finding of the court-martial was submitted to General 
Korsackoff for approval or revision. The general commuted 
the sentence of three men in the first grade to twenty years 
labor. Those in the second grade sentenced to death were 
relieved from this punishment and placed on the same foot- 
ing as their companions. In the third grade the original 
sentence (at the time of banishment) was increased by one 
or two years labor. Other penalties were not changed. 

During my stay in Irkutsk the four prisoners condemned 
to death suffered the extreme penalty, the execution occur- 
ring in the forest near the town. A firing party of forty- 
eight men was divided into four squads. According to the 
custom at all military executions one musket in each squad 
was charged with a blank cartridge. The four prisoners 
were shot simultaneously, and all died instantly. Two of 
them were much dejected ; the others met their deaths firmly 
and shouted " Vive la Pologne" as they heard the order to 
fire. 

I was told that the crowd of people, though large, was very 



A REMARKABLE ESCAPE. 425 

v 

quiet, and moved away in silence when the execution was 
over. Yery few officers and soldiers were present beyond 
those whose duty required them to witness or take part in 
the affair. 

One of the most remarkable escapes from Siberia was that 
of Rutin Piotrowski, a Polish emigrant who left Paris in 
1844 to return to his native country, with impossible plans 
and crude ideas for her relief. The end of his journey was 
Kaminietz, in Podolia, where he gave himself out as a French- 
man who had come to give private lessons in foreign lan- 
guages, and received the usual permit from the authorities 
without exciting any suspicion. He was soon introduced 
into the best society ; and the better to shield his connections, 
he chose the houses of Russian employees. His security 
rested upon his not being supposed to understand the Polish 
language ; and, during the nine months that he remained, he 
obtained such command over himself, that the police had not 
the slightest suspicion of his being a Pole. The warning 
voice came from St. Petersburg, through the spies in Paris. 

Early one winter's morning he was roughly shaken out of 
slumber by the director of police, and carried before the gov- 
ernor of the province, who had come specially on this errand. 
His position was represented to him as one of the greatest 
danger, and he was recommended to make a full confession. 
This for many days he refused to do, until a large number 
of those who were his accomplices were brought before him ; 
and their weary, anxious faces induced him to exclaim loudly, 
and in his native tongue — " Yes, I am a Pole, and have re- 
turned because I could not bear exile from my native land 
any longer. Here I wished to live inoffensive and quiet, con- 
fiding my secret to a few countrymen ; and I have nothing 
more to say." An immediate order was made out for the 
culprit's departure to Kiev. According to the story he has 
published his sufferings were frightful, and were not lessened 
when they stopped at a hut, where some rusty chains were 
brought out, the rings of which were thrust over his ankles : 
they proved much too small, and the rust prevented the bars 



426 A TERRIBLE JOURNEY. 

from turning in the sockets, so that the pain was insupport- 
able. He was rudely carried and thrown into the carriage, 
and thus arrived in an almost insensible condition at the fort- 
ress of Kiev. 

After many months' detention in this prison, being closely 
watched and badly treated, he was sentenced to hard labor 
in Siberia for life, degraded from his rank as a noble, and 
ordered to make the journey in chains. As soon as this was 
read to him, he was taken to a kibitka, with three horses, 
irons were put on, and he was placed between two armed 
soldiers ; the gates of the fortress were shut, and the road to 
Siberia was before him. An employee came up to M. Pio- 
trowski, and timidly offered him a small packet, saying — 
" Accept this from my saint." The convict not understand- 
ing, he added, " You are a Pole, and do not know our cus- 
toms. It is my fete-day, when it is above all a duty to assist 
the unfortunate. Pray, accept it, then, in the name of my 
saint, after whom I am called." The packet contained bread, 
salt, and money. 

Night and day the journey continued, with the utmost ra- 
pidity, for about a month, when, in the middle of the night, 
they stopped at the fortress of Omsk, where he was placed 
for a few hours with a young officer who had committed some 
breach of discipline. They talked on incessantly until the 
morning, so great was the pleasure of meeting with an edu- 
cated person. A map of Siberia was in the room, which 
Piotrowski examined with feverish interest. " Ah ! " said 
his companion ," are you meditating flight? Pray, do not 
think of it : many of your fellow-countrymen have tried it, 
and never succeeded." 

At midday he was brought before Prince Gortchakoff, and 
the critical moment of his fate arrived: he might either be 
sent to some of the government factories in the neighborhood, 
or to the mines underground. An hour passed in cruel sus- 
pense while this was debated. At length one of the council 
announced to him that he was to be sent to the distillery of 
Ekaterinski, three hundred miles to the north of Omsk. 



WOEKING AMONG CONYICTS. 427 

The clerks around congratulated him on his destination, and 
his departure was immediate. 

On a wintry morning he reached a vast plain near the river 
Irtish, on which a village of about two hundred wooden huts 
was built around a factory. When introduced into the clerks' 
office, a young man who was writing jumped up and threw 
himself into his arms : he also was a Pole from Cracow, a 
well-known poet, and sent away for life as " a measure of pre- 
caution." Soon they were joined by another political crim- 
inal : these spoke rapidly and with extreme emotion, entreat- 
ing their new friend to bear everything in the most submis- 
sive and patient manner, as the only means of escaping from 
menial employment, and being promoted to the clerks' office. 
Not long was he permitted to rest. A convict came and or- 
dered him to take a broom and sweep away a mass of dirt 
that some masons had left ; a murderer was his companion ; 
and thus he went on until nightfall, when his two friends 
were permitted to visit him, in the presence of the soldiers 
and convicts, most of the latter of whom had been guilty of 
frightful crimes. 

Thus day after day passed on, in sweeping, carrying wood 
and water, amid snow and frost. His good conduct brought 
him, in a year and a half, to the office, where he received ten 
francs a month and his rations, and the work was light. 
During this time he saw and conversed with many farmers 
and travelers from a distance, and gained every information 
about the roads, rivers, etc., with a view to the escape he was 
ever meditating. Some of the natives unite with the soldiers 
in exercising an incessant supervision over the convicts, and 
a common saying among the Tartars is : " In killing a squir- 
rel you get but one skin, whilst a convict has three — his coat, 
his shirt, and his skin." 

Slowly and painfully he collected the materials for his jour- 
ney. First of all, a passport was an essential. A convict 
who had been sentenced for making false money, still pos- 
sessed an excellent stamp of the royal arms ; this Piotrowski 
bought for a few francs. The sheet of paper was easily ob- 



428 ESCAPING FROM CAPTIVITY. 

tained in the office, and the passport forged. After long- 
waiting, he procured a Siberian wig — that is, a sheepskin with 
the wool turned in, to preserve the head from the cold — three 
shirts, a sheepskin bournouse, and a red velvet cap bordered 
with fur — the dress of a well-to-do peasant. On a sharp 
frosty night he quitted Ekaterinski for Tara, having deter- 
mined to try the road to the north for Archangel, as the least 
frequented. A large fair was shortly to be held at Irbit, at 
the foot of the Urals, and he hoped to hide himself in the 
vast crowd of people that frequented it. Soon after he had 
crossed the river a sledge was heard behind him. He trem- 
bled for his safety — his pursuers were perhaps coming. 

" Where are you going ? " shouted the peasant who drove it. 

" To Tara." 

" Give me ten sous, and I will take you." 

" No ; it is too much. I will give eight." 

" Well, so let it be. Jump in quickly." 

He was set down in the street ; and knocking at a house, 
inquired in the Russian fashion — " Have you horses to 
hire?" 

" Yes — a pair. Where to ? " 

" To Irbit. I am a commercial traveler, and going to meet 
my master. I am behind my time, and wish to go as quick- 
ly as possible." . 

No sooner had they set off than a snow-storm came on, 
and the driver lost his way. They wandered about all night 
in the forest, and it was impossible to describe the anguish 
and suffering Piotrowski endured. 

" Return to Tara," said he, as the day broke ; " I will en- 
gage another sledge ; and you need not expect any money 
from me, after the folly you have shown in losing your way." 

They turned, but had hardly gone a mile before the driver 
jumped up, looked around, and cried — " This is our road." 
Then making up for lost time, he set him down at a friend's 
house, where he procured some tea and fresh horses. On he 
went in safety, renewing his horses at small expense, until 
late at night, when he suffered from a most unfortunate rob- 



A PECUNIARY COMPROMISE. 429 

beiy. He had not money at hand to pay the conductor. 
They turned into a public-house, where a crowd of drunken 
people were celebrating the carnival. He drew out some 
paper-money to get change, when the crowd coming round, 
some one seized his papers, among which were several rouble 
notes, his invaluable passport, and a note in which he had 
minutely inscribed all the towns and villages he must pass 
through on the road to Archangel. He was in despair. The 
very first day, a quarter of his money was gone, and the only 
thing by which he hoped to evade suspicion, his passport. 
He dare not appeal to the police, and was obliged to submit. 

Regret and hesitation were not to be thought of. He soon 
found himself on the high-road to Irbit, crowded with an in- 
numerable mass of sledges, going or returning to the fair. 
It is the season of gain and good humor, and the people show 
it by unbounded gaiety. Piotrowski took courage, returned 
the salutations of the passers-by — for how could he be dis- 
tinguished in such a crowd ? The gates of Irbit were reach- 
ed on the third day. " Halt, and shew your passport," cried 
an official ; but added in a whisper — " Give me twenty co- 
pecks, and pass quickly." The demand was willingly grati- 
fied, and with some difficulty he procured a night's lodging, 
lying on the floor amidst a crowd of peasants, who had pre- 
viously supped on radish-soup, dried fish, oatmeal gruel, with 
oil and pickled cabbage. 

Up at daybreak, he took care to make the orthodox saluta- 
tions, and passing rapidly through the crowded town, he 
walked out of the opposite gate, for, henceforwards, his scanty 
funds demanded that the journey should be made on foot. 
In the midst of a heavily falling snow, he managed to keep 
the track, avoiding the villages, and, when hungry, drawing 
a piece of frozen bread from his bag. At nightfall, he buried 
himself in the forest, hollowed a deep hole in the snow, and 
found a hard but warm bed, where he gained the repose he 
so greatly needed. Another hard day, with a dry cutting 
wind, forced him to ask for shelter at night in a cottage, 
which was granted without hesitation. He described himself 



480 VISITED BY THE POLICE. 

as a -workman, going to the iron-foundries at Bohotole, on the 
Ural Mountains. Whilst the supper was preparing, he dried 
his clothes, and stretched himself on a bench with inexpress- 
ible satisfaction. He fancied he had neglected no precautions ; 
his prayers and salutations had been made ; and yet suspicion 
was awakened, as it appeared, by the sight of his three shirts, 
which no peasant possesses. Three men entered, and rough- 
ly shook him from sleep, demanding his passport. 

" By what right do you ask for it ? Are you police ? " 

" No ; but we are inhabitants of the village." 

" And can you enter houses, and ask for passports ! Who 
can say whether you do not mean to rob me of my papers ? 
But my answer is ready. I am Lavrenti Kouzmine, going to 
Bohotole ; and it is not the first time I have passed through 
the country." 

He then entered into details of the road and the fair at 
Irbit, ending by showing his permission to pass, which, as it 
bore a stamp, satisfied these ignorant men. 

" Forgive us," said they. " We thought you were an es- 
caped convict ; some of them pass this way." 

Henceforward, he dared not seek the shelter of a house. 
From the middle of February to the beginning of April, in 
the midst of one of the severest winters ever known, his 
couch was in the snow. Frozen bread was his food for days 
together, and the absence of warm aliments brought him face 
to face with the terrible spectres of cold and hunger. The 
Urals were reached, and he began to climb their wooded 
heights. On passing through a little village at nightfall, a 
voice cried : " Who is there ?" 

" A traveler." 

" Well, would you like to come and sleep here ? " 

" May God recompense you, yes ; if it will not inconven- 
ience you." 

An aged couple lived there — good people, who prepared a 
meagre repast, which seemed a feast to Piotrowski : the 
greatest comfort of all being that he could take off his clothes. 



A GOOD SAMARITAN. 431 

They gave him his breakfast, and would not accept any re- 
muneration but his warm and cordial thanks. 

One evening Piotrowski's life was nearly extinct. The 
way was lost, the hail pierced his skin, his supply of bread 
was exhausted, and after vainly dragging his weary limbs, he 
fell into a kind of torpor. A loud voice roused him — " What 
are you doing here ? " 

" I am making a pilgrimage to the monastery of Solovetsk, 
but the storm prevented my seeing the track, and I have not 
eaten for several days." 

" It is not surprising. We who live on the spot often wan- 
der away. There, drink that." 

The speaker gave him a bottle containing some brandy, 
which burned him so fearfully, that in his pain he danced 
about. 

" Now try to calm yourself," said the good Samaritan, giv- 
ing him some bread and dried fish, which Piotrowski ate rav- 
enously, saying — " I thank you with all my heart. May God 
bless you for your goodness." 

" Ah, well, do not say so much ; we are both Christians. 
Now, try to walk a little." 

He was a trapper ; and led him into the right path, point- 
ing out a village inn where he could get rest and refreshment. 
Piotrowski managed to crawl to the place, and then fainted 
away. When he recovered himself, he asked for radish-soup, 
but could not swallow it ; and toward noon he fell asleep on 
the bench, never awaking until the same time on the next 
day, when the host roused him. Sleep, rest, and warnith re- 
stored him, and he again started on his long pilgrimage. 

The town of Veliki-Ustiug was reached, where he deter- 
mined to change his character and become a pilgrim, going 
to pray to the holy images of Solovetsk, on the White Sea. 
There are four of these holy places to which pious Russians 
resort, and everywhere the wayfarers are well received, hos- 
pitality and alms being freely dispensed to those who are 
going to pray for the peace of the donor. Passports are not 
rigorously exacted, and he hoped to join himself to a com- 



482 VOYAGE ON THE DWINA. 

pany, trusting to be less marked than if alone. As he was 
standing irresolute in the market-place, a young man accosted 
him, and finding that they were bound to the same place, in- 
vited him to join their party. There were about twenty ; 
but no less than two thousand were in the city on their way, 
waiting until the thaw should have opened the Dwina for the 
rafts and boats which would transport them to Archangel, 
and then to Solovetsk. It was a scene for Chaucer : the 
half-idiot, who sought to be a saint ; the knave who played 
upon the charity of others ; and the astute hypocrite. The 
rafts are loaded with corn, and the pilgrims receive a free 
passage ; or a small sum of money is given them if they con- 
sent to row ; from forty to sixty sailors being required for 
each, the oars consisting of a thin fir-tree. Piotrowski was 
only too happy to increase his small store of money by work- 
ing. At the break of day, before starting, the captain cried 
— " Seat yourselves, and pray to God." Every one squatted 
down like a Mussulman for a moment, then rose and made 
a number of salutations, and crossings ; and next, down to 
the poorest, each threw a small piece of money into the river 
to secure a propitious voyage. 

Fifteen days passed, during which Piotrowski learned to 
be an expert oarsman. Then the golden spires of Archangel 
rose before them ; a cry of joy was uttered by all ; and the 
rowers broke off the lower parts of their oars with a frightful 
crash, according to the universal custom. It was a heartfelt 
prayer of gratitude that Piotrowski raised to God for having 
brought him thus far in safety. How pleasant was the sight 
of the ships, with their flags of a thousand colors, after the 
snow and eternal forests of the Urals ! But there was again 
disappointment. He wandered along the piers, but could not 
find a single vessel bound for France or Germany, and not 
daring to enter the cafes, where perhaps the captains might 
have been, he left Archangel in sadness, determined to skirt 
the coast towards Onega. He would thus pass- the celebrated 
monastery without the necessity of stopping, and pretend 



BEARDING THE LION. 433 

that he was proceeding to Novgorod and Moscow on the same 
pious pilgrimage. 

Through marshes and blighted fir-plantations the weary 
wayfarer sped, the White Sea rising frequently into storms 
of the utmost grandeur ; ' but the season was lovely, and the 
sun warm, so that camping out offered less hardship. The 
wolves howled around him, but happily he never saw them. 
Many soldiers, who were Poles, were established at different 
points to take charge of the canals. 

Having reached Yytegra, he was accosted on the shore by 
a peasant, who asked where he was going. On hearing his 
story, he said — " You are the man I want. I am going to 
St. Petersburg. My boat is small, and you can assist me 
to row." 

The crafty fellow evidently intended to profit by the pil- 
grim's arms without wages ; but, after long debate, he agreed 
to supply Piotrowski with food during the transport. It 
seemed strange, indeed, to go to the capital — like running 
into the jaws of the lion — but he seized every occasion to 
pass on, lest his papers should be asked for. As they coasted 
down through Lake Ladoga and the Neva, they took in some 
women as passengers, who were servants, and had been home 
to see their parents. One of them, an aged washerwoman, 
was so teased by the others, that Piotrowski took her part, 
and in return she offered him some very useful assistance. 

" My daughter," she said, " will come to meet me, and she 
will find you a suitable lodging." 

It will be guessed with what joy he accepted the proposal ; 
and during all the time spent in the boat, no one came to ask 
for passports. The house she took him to was sufficiently 
miserable ; as the Russians say, " It was the bare ground, 
with the wrist for a pillow." He asked his hostess if he 
must see the police to arrange the business of his passport. 

"No," she said. " If you only stay a few days, it is use- 
less. They have become so exacting, that they would require 
me to accompany you, and my time is too precious." 

As he passed along the quays, looking for a ship, his eyes 
28 



434 RUNNING THE GAUNTLET. 

rested on one to sail for Riga on the following morning. He 
conld scarcely master his emotion. The pilot on board call- 
ed out — " If you want a place to Riga, come here." 

"I certainly want one; but I am too poor to sail in a 
steamer. It would cost too much." 

He named a very small sum, and said — " Come ; why do 
you hesitate ?" 

" I only arrived yesterday, and the police have not vise my 
passport." 

" That will occupy three days. Go without a vise. Be 
here at seven o'clock, and wait for me." 

Both were to their time. The sailor said, " Give me some 
money," and handed him a yellow paper ; the clock struck ; 
the barrier was opened, and, like a dream, he was safely on 
the ocean. 

From Riga he went through Courland and Lithuania. The 
difficulty of crossing the Russian frontier into Prussia was 
still to be managed. He chose the daytime ; and when sen- 
tinels had each turned their backs, he jumped over the wall 
of the first of the three glacis. No noise was heard. The 
second was tried, and the firing of pistols showed that he 
was perceived. He rushed on to the third, and, breathless 
and exhausted, gained a little wood, where for many hours 
he remained concealed. He was in Prussia. Wandering on 
through Memel, Tilsit, and Konigsberg, he decided at the 
last place to take a ship the next morning to Elbing, where 
he would be near to Posen, and among his compatriots. Sit- 
ting down on a heap of stones, he intended taking refuge for 
the night in a corn-field ; but sleep overcame him, and he 
was rudely awakened in the darkness by a policeman. His 
stammering and confused replies awakened suspicion, and to 
his shame and grief, he was carried off to prison. He an- 
nounced himself as a French cotton-spinner, but returning 
from Russia, and without a passport. Not a word he said 
was believed. At length, after a month's detention, weary 
of being considered a concealed malefactor, he asked to speak 
to M. Fleury, a French advocate, who assisted at his trial. 



SAFE AT LAST. 435 

To him he confessed the whole truth. Nothing could equal 
his advocate's consternation and astonishment. 

" What a misfortune ! " he said. " We must give you up 
to the Russians ; they have just sent many of your country- 
men across the frontier. There is but one way. Write to 
Count Eulenberg ; tell your story, and trust to his mercy." 

After ten days he received a vague reply, desiring him to 
have patience. The affair got wind in the town, and a gen- 
tleman came to him, asking if he would accept him as bail. 
Efforts had been made in his favor, and the police were ready 
to set him free. M. Kamke, his kind friend, took him home, 
.and entertained him for a week ; but an order came from 
Berlin to send the prisoner back to Russia, and he received 
warning in time to escape. Letters to various friends on the 
way were given him, to facilitate his journey ; and just four 
years after he had left Paris he reached it in safety again, 
after having crossed the Urals, slept for months in the snow, 
jumped over the Russian frontier in the midst of balls, and 
passed through so many sufferings and privations. 




CHAPTER XXXVIII. 



I REMAINED in Irkutsk until snow fell, and -the winter 
roads were suitable for travel. One day the moving 
portion of the city was on wheels : the next saw it gliding 
on runners. The little sleighs of the isvoshcliiks are exactly 
like those of St. Petersburg and Moscow, — miniature affairs 
where you sit with your face within six inches of the driver's 
back, and cannot take a friend at your side without much 
crowding. They move rapidly, and it is a fortunate provis- 
ion that they are cheap. In all large cities and towns of Rus- 
sia many isvoshchiks go to spend the winter. With a hoise 
and little sleigh and a cash capital sufficient to buy a license, 
one of these enterprising fellows will set up in business. No- 
body thinks of walking in Moscow or St. Petersburg, unless 
his journey or his purse is very short. It is said there are 
thirty thousand sleighs for public hire in St. Petersburg alone, 
during the winter months, and two-thirds that number in 
Moscow. The interior towns are equally well supplied in 
proportion to their population. 

One may naturally suppose that accidents are frequent 
where there are many vehicles and fast driving is the fashion. 
Accidents are rare from the fact that drivers are under severe 
penalties if they run over any one. Furthermore the horses 
are quick and intelligent, and being driven without blinkers, 
can use their eyes freely. To my mind this plan is better 
than ours, and most foreigners living in Russia are inclined 
to adopt it. Considered as an ornament a blinker decorates 
a horse about as much as an eye shade does a man. 

"With the first fall of snow, I began preparations for de- 

(436) 



PKEPARATIONS FOR TRAVEL. 437 

parture. I summoned a tailor and gave orders for a variety 
of articles in fur and sheep-skin for the road. He measured 
me for a coat, a cap, a pair of stockings, and a sleigh robe, 
all in sheep-skin. He then took the size of my ears for a 
pair of lappets, and proposed fur socks to be worn under the 
stockings. When the accumulated result of his labors was 
piled upon the floor of my room, I was alarmed at its size, 
and wondered if it could ever be packed in a single sleigh. 
Out of a bit of sable skin a lady acquaintance constructed a 
mitten for my nose, to be worn when the temperature was 
lowest. It was not an improvement to one's personal ap- 
pearance though very conducive to comfort. 

To travel by peraclodnoi (changing the vehicle at every 
station) is bad enough in summer but ten times bad in win- 
ter. To turn out every two or three hours with the thermom- 
eter any distance below zero, and shift baggage and furs from 
one sleigh to another is an absolute nuisance. Very few per- 
sons travel by peraclodnoi in winter, and one does not find 
many sleighs at the post stations from the fact that they are 
seldom demanded. Nearly all travelers buy their sleighs be- 
fore starting, and sell them when their journeys are ended. 

I surveyed the Irkutsk market and found several sleighs 
' up ' for sale. Throughout Siberia a sleigh manufactured at 
Kazan is preferred, it being better made and more commodi- 
ous than its rivals. My attention was called to several vehi- 
cles of local manufacture but my friends advised me not to 
try them. I sought a Kazamki kibitka and with the aid of an 
intelligent isvoshchiJc succeeded in finding one. Its purchase 
was accomplished in a manner peculiarly Russian. 

The seller was a mischanin or Russian merchant of the 
peasant class. Accompanied by a friend I called at his house 
and our negotiation began over a lunch and a bottle of nalifka. 
We said nothing on the subject nearest my heart and his, for 
at least a half hour, but conversed on general topics. My 
friend at length dropped a hint that I thought of taking up 
my residence at Irkutsk. This was received with delight, 



438 BAKGAINING FOR A SLEIGH. 

and a glass of nalifka, supplementary to at least half a dozen 
glasses I had already swallowed. 

" Why don't you come to sleighs at once, and settle the 
matter ?" I asked. " He probably knows what we want, and 
if we keep on at this rate I shall need a sleigh to go home in." 

" Don't be impatient," said my friend ; " you don't under- 
stand these people ; you must angle them gently. When you 
want to make a trade, begin a long way from it. If you want 
to buy a horse, pretend that you want to sell a cow, but don't 
mention the horse at first. If you do you will never succeed." 

We hedged very carefully and finally reached the subject. 
This was so overpowering that we took a drink while the 
merchant ordered the sleigh dragged into the court yard. 
We had another glass before we adjourned for the inspection, 
a later one when we returned to the house, and another as 
soon as we were seated. After this our negotiations proceed- 
ed at a fair pace, but there were many vacuums of language that 
required liquid filling. After endeavoring to lower his price, 
I closed with him and we clenched the bargain with a drink. 
Sleighs were in great demand, as many persons were setting 
out for Russia, and I made sure of my purchase by paying 
on the spot and taking a glass of nalifka. As a finale to the 
transaction, he urged me to drink again, begged my photo- 
graph, and promised to put an extra something to the sleigh. 

The Siberian peasant classes are much like the Chinese in 
their manner of bargaining. Neither begins at the business 
itself, but at something entirely different. A great deal of 
time, tea, and tobacco is consumed before the antagonists are 
fairly met. When the main subject is reached they gradually 
approach and conclude the bargain about where both expect- 
ed and intended. An American would come straight to the 
point, and dealing with either of the above races his blunt- 
ness would endanger the whole affair. In many matters this 
patient angling is advantageous, and nowhere more so than in 
diplomacy. Every one will doubtless acknowledge the Rus- 
sians unsurpassed in diplomatic skill. They possess the fac- 
ulty of touching gently, and playing with their opponents, to 



VEHICLES FOR TRAVELING, 



439 




A YASHOK. 



a higher degree than any nation of "Western Europe. Other 
things being equal, this ability will bring success. 

There are several descriptions of sleigh for Siberian travel. 
At the head, stands the vashok, a box-like affair with a gen- 
eral resemblance to an American coach on runners. It has 

a door at 
each side 
and glass 
windows 
and is long 
enough for 
one to lie 
at full 
length. 
Three per- 
sons with 

limited baggage can find plenty of room in a vashok. A 
kibitka is shaped much like a tarantass, or like a New Eng- 
land chaise stretched to about seven feet long by four in width. 
There is a sort of apron that can be let down from the hood 
and fastened with straps and buckles to the boot. The boot 
can be buttoned to the sides of the vehicle and completely 
. encloses the occupants. The vashok is used by families or 
ladies, but the kibitka. is generally preferred by men on ac- 
count of the ability to open it in fine weather, and close it at 
night or in storms. 

A sleigh much like this but less comfortable is called a 
povoska. In either of them the driver sits on the forward 
part with his feet hanging over the side. His perch is not 
very secure, and on a rough road he must exercise care to 
prevent falling off. " Why don't you have a better seat for 
your driver ?" I asked of my friend, when negotiating for a 
sleigh. " Oh," said he, " this is the best way as he cannot 
go to sleep. If he had a better place he would sleep and 
lose time by slow traveling." 

A sleigh much used by Russian merchants is shaped like 
an elongated mill-hopper. It has enormous carrying capacity, 



440 



A RUSSIAN SLEIGH, 




A KIBITKA. 



and in bad weather can be covered with matting to exclude 
cold and snow. It is large, heavy, and cumbersome, and 
adapted to slow travel, and when much luggage is to be 
carried. All these concerns are ^ 
*on runners 
about thirty 
inches apart, 
and generally 
shod .with 
iron. On each 
side there is 
a fender or 
outrigger 
which serves 

the double purpose of diminishing injury from collisions and 
preventing the overturn of the sleigh. It is a stout pole at- 
tached to the forward end of the sleigh, and sloping down- 
ward and outward toward the rear where it is two feet from 
the runner, and held by strong braces. On a level surface it 
does not touch the snow, but should the sleigh tilt from any 
cause the outrigger will generally prevent an overturn. In 
collision with other sleighs, the fender plays an important 
part. I have been occasionally dashed against sleds and 
sleighs when the chances of a smash-up appeared brilliant. 
The fenders met like a pair of fencing foils, and there was 
no damage beyond the shock of our meeting. 

The horses are harnessed in the Russian manner, one be- 
ing under a yoke in the shafts, and the others, up to five or 
six, attached outside. There is no seat in the interior of the 
sleigh. Travelers arrange their baggage and furs to as good 
a level as possible and fill the crevices with hay or straw. 
They sit, recline, or lie at their option. Pillows are a neces- 
sity of winter travel. 

I exchanged my trunk for a chemidan of enormous capac- 
ity, and long enough to extend across the bottom of my sleigh. 
For the first thousand versts, to Krasnoyarsk, I arranged to 
travel with a young officer of engineers whose baggage con- 



A FIRST-CLASS SAINT'S DAY. 441 

sisted of two or three hundred pounds of geological speci- 
mens. For provisions we ordered beef, cabbage soup, little 
cakes like ' mince turnovers/ and a few other articles. Tea 
and sugar were indispensable, and had a prominent place. 
Our soups, meat, pies, et cetera were frozen and only needed 
thawing at the stations to be ready for use. 

The day before my departure was the peculiar property of 
Saint Inakentief, the only saint who belongs especially to Si- 
beria. Everybody kept the occasion in full earnest, the ser- 
vices commencing the previous evening when nearly every- 
body got drunk. I had a variety of preparations in the shape 
of mending, making bags, tying up bundles and the like, but 
though I offered liberal compensation neither man-servant nor 
maid-servant would lend assistance. Labor was not to be 
had on any terms, and I was obliged to do my own packing. 
There are certain saints' days in the year when a Russian 
peasant will no more work than would a Puritan on Sunday. 
All who could do so on the day above mentioned visited the 
church four miles from Irkutsk, where Saint Inakentief lies 
buried. 

I occupied the fashionable hours of the two days before my 
departure in making farewell visits according to Russian eti- 
quette. Not satisfied with their previous courtesy my friends 
arranged a dinner at the club rooms for the last evening of 
my stay at Irkutsk. The other public dinners were of a mas- 
culine character, but the farewell entertainment possessed the 
charm of the presence of fifteen or twenty ladies. General 
Shelashnikoff, Governor of Irkutsk, and acting Governor 
General during the absence of General Korsackoff, presided at 
the table. We dined directly before the portraits of the last 
and present emperors of Russia, and as I looked at the like- 
ness of Nicholas I thought I had never seen it half as amiable. 

After the dinner the tables disappeared with magical ra- 
pidity and a dance began. While I was talking in a corner 
behind a table, a large album containing views of Irkutsk 
was presented to me as a souvenir of my visit. The golovah 
was prominent in the presentation, and when it was ended 



442 AN AWKWARD DANC3. 

he urged me to be his vis a vis in a quadrille. Had he asked 
Hie to walk a tight rope or interpret a passage of Sanscrit, I 
should have been about as able to comply. My education in 
' the light fantastic ' has been extremely limited, and my ac- 
quaintances will testify that nature has not adapted me to 
achievements in the Terpsichorean art. 

I resisted all entreaties to join the dance up to that eve- 
ning. I urged that I never attempted it a dozen times in my 
life, and not at all within ten years. The golovah declared 
he had not danced in twenty-five years, and knew as little of 
the art as I did. There was no more to be said. I resigned 
myself to the pleasures awaiting me, and ventured on the 
floor very much as an elephant goes on a newly frozen mill- 
pond. Personal diffidence and a regard for truth forbid a 
laudatory account of my success. I did walk through a quad- 
rille, but when it came to the Mazurka I was as much out of 
place as a blind man in a picture gallery. 

My arrangement to travel with the geologic officer and 
his heavy baggage fell through an hour before our starting 
time. A new plan was organized and included my tak- 
ing Captain Paul in my sleigh to Krasnoyarsk. Two 
ladies of our acquaintance were going thither, and I gladly 
waited a few hours for the pleasure of their company. When 
my preparations were completed, I drove to the house of 
Madame Rodstvenny whence we were to set out. The mad- 
ame and her daughter were to travel in a large kibitka, and 
had bestowed two servants with much baggage and provis- 
ions in a vashok. "With our three vehicles we made a digni- 
fied procession. 

"We dined at three o'clock, and were ready to start an hour 
later. Just before leaving the house all were seated around 
the principal room, and for a minute there was perfect 
silence. On rising all who professed the religion of the Greek 
Church bowed to the holy picture and made the sign of the 
cross. This custom prevails throughout Russia, and is never 
omitted when a journey is to be commenced. 

There was a gay party to conduct us to the first station, 



THE AMERICAN FLAG AT IRKUTSK, 



443 



conveniently situated only eight miles away. At the ferry 
we found the largest assemblage I saw in Irkutsk, not except- 
ing the crowd at the fire. The ferry boat was on the other 
side of the river, and as I glanced across I saw something 
that caused me to look more intently. It was a little past 
sunset, and the gathering night showed somewhat indistinctly 
the American and Russian flags floating side by side on the 
boat. My national colors were in the majority. 

The scene was rendered more picturesque by a profusion 
of Chinese lanterns lighting every part of the boat. The 
golovah stood at my side to enjoy my astonishment. It was 
to his kindness and attention that this farewell courtesy was 
due. He had the honor of unfurling the first American flag 
that ever floated over the Angara — and his little surprise 
raised a goodly sized lump in the throat of his guest. 




FAREWELL TO IRKUTSK. 



Our party was so large that the boat made two journeys to 
ferry us over the water. I remained till the last, and on the 
bank of the river bade adieu to Irkutsk and its hospitable cit- 
izens. I may not visit them again, but I can never forget the 
open hearted kindness I enjoyed. The Siberians have a climate 



444 A BIBULOUS FAREWELL. 

of great severity, but its frosts and snows have not been able 
to chill the spirit of genuine courtesy, as every traveler in 
that region can testify. Hospitality is a custom of the coun- 
try, and all the more pleasing because heartily and cheerfully 
bestowed. 

The shades of night were falling fast as I climbed the river 
bank, and began my sleigh ride toward the west. The arched 
gateway at Irkutsk close by the ferry landing, is called the 
Moscow entrance, and is said to face directly toward the an- 
cient capital. As I reached the road, I shouted " poshol" to 
the yemshick, and we dashed off in fine style. At the church 
or monastery six versts away, I overtook our party. The 
ladies were in the chapel offering their prayers for a pros- 
perous journey. When they emerged w e were ready to go 
forward over a road not remarkable for its smoothness. 

At the first station our friends joined us in taking tea. 
Cups, glasses, cakes, champagne bottles, cakes and cold meats, 
crept somehow from mysterious corners in our vehicles. The 
station master was evidently accustomed to visits like this, 
as his rooms were ready for our reception. We were two 
hours in making our adieus, and consuming the various arti- 
cles provided for the occasion. There was a general kissing 
all around at the last moment. 

We packed the ladies in their sleigh, and then entered our 
own. As we left the station our friends joined their voices 
in a farewell song that rang in our ears till lost in the dis- 
tance, and drowned by nearer sounds. Our bells jingled mer- 
rily in the frosty air as our horses sped rapidly along the 
road. We closed the front of our sleigh, and settled among 
our furs and pillows. The night was cold, but in my thick 
wrappings I enjoyed a tropical warmth and did not heed the 
low state of the thermometer. 

Our road for seventy versts lay along the bank of the An- 
gara. A thick fog filled the valley and seemed to hug close 
to the river. In the morning every part of our sleigh except 
at the points of friction, was white with frost. Each little 
fibre projecting from our cover of canvas and matting be- 



A SIBERIAN FROST-CLOUD. 445 

came a miniature stalactite, and the head of every nail, bolt, 
and screw, buried itself beneath a mass like oxydised silver. 
Everything had seized upon and congealed some of the mois- 
ture floating in the atmosphere. Our horses were of the 
color, or no color, of rabbits in January ; it was only by 
brushing away the frost that the natural tint of their hair 
could be discovered, and sometimes there was a great deal of 
frost adhering to them. 

During my stay at Irkutsk I noticed the prevalence of this 
fog or frost cloud. It usually formed during the night and 
was thickest near the river. In the morning it enveloped 
the whole city, but when the sun was an hour or two in the 
heavens, the mist began to melt away. It remained longest 
over the river, and I was occasionally in a thick cloud on the 
bank of the Angara when the atmosphere a hundred yards 
away was perfectly clear. The moisture congealed on every 
stationary object. Houses and fences were cased in ice, its 
thickness varying with the condition of the weather. Trees 
and bushes became masses of crystals, and glistened in the 
sunlight as if formed of diamonds. I could never wholly 
rid myself of the impression that some of the trees were 
fountains caught and frozen when in full action. The frost 
played curious tricks of artistic skill, and its delineations 
were sometimes marvels of beauty. 

Any one who has visited St. Petersburg in winter remem- 
bers the effect of a fog from the Gulf of Finland after a 
period of severe cold. The red granite columns of St. Isaac's 
church are apparently transformed into spotless marble by the 
congelation of moisture on their surface. In the same man- 
ner I have seen a gray wall at Irkutsk changed in a night 
and morning to a dazzling whiteness. The crystalline form- 
ation of the frost had all the varieties of the kaleidoscope 
without its colors. 

I slept well during the night, awaking occasionally at the 
stations or when the sleigh experienced an unusually heavy 
thump. In the morning I learned we had traveled a hundred 
and sixty versts from Irkutsk. The road was magnificent 



446 CARRYING PROVISIONS. 

after leaving the valley of the Angara, and the sleigh glided 
easily and with very little jolting. 

" No cloud above, no earth below ; 
A universe of sky and snow." 

I woke to daylight and found a monotonous country desti- 
tute of mountains and possessing few hills. It was gener- 
ally wooded, and where under cultivation near the villages 
there was an appearance of fertility. There were long dis- 
tances between the clusters of houses, and I was continually 
reminded of the abundant room for increase of population. 

We stopped for breakfast soon after sunrise. The samovar 
was ordered, and our servants brought a creditable supply of 
toothsome little cakes and pies. These with half a dozen 
cups of tea to each person prepared us for a ride of several 
hours. We dined a little before sunset, and for one I can 
testify that full justice was done to the dinner. 

Very little can be had at the stations on this road, so that 
experienced travelers carry their own provisions. One can 
always obtain hot water, and generally bread, and eggs, but 
nothing else is certain. In winter, provisions can be easily 
carried as the frost preserves them alike from decaying or 
crushing. Soup, meats, bread, and other edibles can be car- 
ried on long routes with perfect facility. There is a favorite 
preparation for Russian travel under the name of pilmania. 
It is a little ball of minced meat covered with dough, the 
whole being no larger than a robin's egg. In a frozen state 
a bag full of pilmania is like the same quantity of walnuts or 
marbles, and can be tossed about with impunity. When a 
traveler wishes to dine upon this article he orders a pot of 
boiling water and tosses a double handful of pilmania into it. 
After five minutes boiling the mass is ready to be eaten in the 
form of soup. Salt, pepper, and vinegar can be used with it 
to one's liking. 

Our diner du voyage consisted of pilmania, roast beef, and 
partridge with bread, cakes, tea, and quass. Our table furni- 
ture was somewhat limited, and the room was littered with 
garments temporarily discarded. The ladies were crinoline- 



A EOADSIDE CONCERT. 447 

less, and their coiffures were decidedly not Parisian. My 
costume was a cross between a shooting- outfit and the every- 
day dress of a stevedore, while my hair appeared as if re- 
cently dressed with a currant bush. Captain Paul was equally 
unpresentable in fastidious parlors, but whatever our apparel 
it did not diminish the keenness of our appetites. The din- 
ner was good, and the diners were hungry and happy. Fash- 
ion is wholly rejected on the Siberian road, and each one 
makes his toilet without regard to French principles and 
tastes. 

According to Russian custom somebody was to be thanked 
for the meal. As the dinner came from the provisions in the 
servants' sleigh we presented our acknowledgments to Mad- 
ame Rodstvenny. "With the forethought of an experienced 
traveler the lady had carefully provided her edibles and so 
abundant was her store that my supply was rarely drawn 
upon. We were more like a pic-nic party than a company 
of travelers on a long journey in a Siberian winter. Made- 
moiselle was fluent in French, and charming in its use. The 
only drawback to general conversation was my inability to 
talk long with Madame except by interpretation. In our 
halts we managed to pass the time in tea-drinking, conversa- 
tion, and sometimes with music of an impromptu character. 
I remember favoring an appreciative audience with a solo on 
a trunk key, followed by mademoiselle and the captain in a 
duett on a tin cup and a horn comb covered with letter paper. 

There was very little scenery worthy of note. /The vil- 
lages generally lay in single streets each containing from ten 
to a hundred houses. Between these clusters of dwellings 
there was little to be seen beyond a succession of wooded 
ridges with stretches of open ground. The continued snow- 
scape offered no great variety on the first day's travel, and 
before night I began to think it monotonous. The villages 
were from ten to twenty miles apart, and very much the same 
in general characteristics. The stations had a family like- 
ness. Each had a travelers' room more or less comfortable, 
and a few apartments for the smotretal and his attendants. 



448 REMINISCENCE OF MARCO POLO. 

The travelers' room had some rough chairs, one or two hard 
sofas or benches, and the same number of tables. While 
the horses were being changed we had our option to enter 
the station or stay out of doors. I generally preferred the 
latter alternative on account of the high temperature of the 
waiting rooms, which necessitated casting off oiwh outer gar- 
ment on entering. During our halts I was fain to refresh 
myself with a little leg stretching and found it a great relief. 

The first movement at a station is to present the padaroshnia 
and demand horses. Marco Polo says, that the great Khan of 
Tartary had posting stations twenty-five miles apart on the 
principal roads of his empire. A messenger or traveler car- 
ried a paper authorizing him to procure horses, and was 
always promptly supplied. The padaroshnia is of ancient 
date, if Marco be trustworthy. It is not less important to a 
Russian traveler at present than to a Tartar one in earlier 
times. Our documents were efficacious, and usually brought 
horses with little delay. The size of our party was a disad- 
vantage as we occasionally found one or two sets of horses 
ready but were obliged to wait a short time for a third. Paul 
had a permit to impress horses in the villages while I carried 
a special passport requesting the authorities to ' lend me all 
needed assistance.' This was generally construed into des- 
patching me promptly, and we rarely failed with a little 
persuasion and money, to secure horses for the third sleigh. 

When we entered the stations for any purpose the sleighs 
and their contents remained unguarded in the streets, but we 
never lost anything by theft. With recollections of my ex- 
perience at stage stations in America, I never felt quite at 
ease at leaving our property to care for itself. My compan- 
ions assured me that thefts from posting vehicles seldom oc- 
cur although the country numbers many convicts among its 
inhabitants. The native Siberians have a reputation for hon- 
esty, and the majority of the exiles for minor offences lead 
correct lives. I presume that wickedly inclined persons in 
villages are deterred from stealing on account of the proba- 
bility of detection and punishment. So far as my experience 



MONEY FOR DRINKS. 449 

goes the inhabitants of Siberia are more honest that those of 
European Russia. In Siberia our sleighs required no watch- 
ing when we left them. After passing the Ural mountains it 
was necessary to hire a man to look after our property when 
we breakfasted and dined. 

The horses being the property of the station we paid for 
them at every change. On no account was the navodku or 
drink-money to the driver forgotten, and it varied according 
to the service rendered. If the driver did well but made no 
special exertion we gave him eight or ten copecks, and in- 
creased the amount as we thought he deserved. On the other 
hand if he was obstinate and unaccommodating he obtained 
nothing. If he argued that the regulations required only a 
certain speed we retorted that the regulations said nothing 
about drink-money. In general we found the yemshicks oblig- 
ing and fully entitled to their gratuities. We went at break- 
neck pace where the roads permitted, and frequently where 
they did not. A travelers' speed depends considerably on 
the drink-money he is reported to have given on the previous 
stage. If illiberal to a good driver or liberal to a bad one he 
cannot expect rapid progress. 

The regulations require a speed of ten versts (6 2-3 miles) 
per hour for vehicles not on government service. If the roads 
are bad the driver can lessen his pace, but he must make all 
proper exertion to keep up to the schedule. When they are 
good and the driver is thirsty (as he generally is), the regu- 
lations are not heeded. We arranged for my sleigh to lead, 
and that of the servants to bring up the rear. Whatever 
speed we went the others were morally certain to follow, and 
our progress was frequently exciting. Money was potent, 
and we employed it. Fifteen copecks was a liberal gratuity, 
and twenty bordered on the munificent. When we increased 
our offer to twenty-five or thirty it was pretty certain to awa- 
ken enthusiasm. Sometimes the pecuniary argument failed, 
and obliged us to proceed at the legal rate. In such cases we 
generally turned aside and placed the ladies in advance. 

We made twelve, fourteen, or sixteen versts per hour, and 
29 



450 FAST TRAVELING FISTIC DISCUSSIONS. 

on one occasion I held my watch, and found that we traveled 
a trifle less than twenty-two versts or about fourteen and a 
half miles in sixty minutes. I do not think I ever rode in 
America at such a pace (without steam) except once when a 
horse ran away with me. Ordinarily we traveled faster than 
the rate prescribed by regulation, and only when the roads 
were bad did we fall below it. "We studied the matter of 
drink-money till it became an exact science. 

About noon on the first day from Irkutsk we took a yem- 
shick who proved sullen in the highest degree. The country 
was gently undulating, and the road superb but our promises 
of navodku were of no avail. We offered and entreated in 
vain. As a last resort we shouted in French to the ladies and 
suggested that they take the lead. Our yemshick ordered his 
comrade to keep his place, and refused to turn aside to allow 
him to pass. He even slackened his speed and drew his 
horses to a walk. Our stout-armed garcon took a position on 
our sleigh, and by a fistic argument succeeded in turning us 
aside. We made only fair progress, and were glad when the 
drive was ended. 

When we began our rapid traveling, I had fears that the 
sleigh would go to pieces in consequence, but was soon con- 
vinced that everything was lovely. The sport was exciting, 
and greatly relieved the monotony of travel. We were so 
protected by furs, pillows, blankets, and hay, that our jolting 
and bounding had no serious result. The ladies enjoyed it 
as much as ourselves, and were not at all inconvenienced by 
any ordinary shaking. Once at the end of a furious ride of 
twenty versts, I found the madame asleep and learned that 
she had been so since leaving the last station. 

I have ridden much in American stage coaches, and wit- 
nessed some fine driving in the west and in California. But 
for rapidity and dash, commend me always to the Siberian 
yemshicks. 



CHAPTEE XXXIX. 

ON the second morning we stopped at Tulemsk to deliver 
several boxes that encumbered the sleighs. The servants 
have a way of putting small articles, and sometimes large 
ones, in the forward end of the vehicle. They are no special 
annoyance to a person of short stature, but in my own case I 
was not reconciled to the practice. A Russian sleigh is 
shaped somewhat like a laundry smoothing-iron, much nar- 
rower forward than aft, so that a traveler does not usually 
find the space beneath the driver a world too wide for his 
shrunk shanks. 

We thawed out over a steaming samovar with plenty of 
hot tea. The lady of the house brought a bottle of nalifka 
of such curious though agreeable flavor that I asked of what 
fruit it was made. " Nothing but orange peel," was the re- 
ply. Every Siberian housewife considers it her duty to pre- 
pare a goodly supply of nalifka during the autumn. A glass 
jar holding two or three gallons is filled to the neck with any 
kind of fruit or berries, currants and gooseberries being 
oftenest used. The jar is then filled with native whisky, 
and placed in a southern window where it is exposed to the 
sunlight and the heat of the room for ten days. The whisky 
is then poured off, mixed with an equal quantity of water, 
placed in a kettle witli a pound of sugar to each gallon, and 
boiled for a few minutes. When cooled and strained it is 
bottled and goes to the cellar. Many Siberians prefer nalif- 
ka to foreign wines, and a former governor-general attempt- 
ed to make it fashionable. He eschewed imported wine and 

(451) 



452 CARAVANS OF SLEDS. 

substituted nalif ka, but bis example was not imitated to tbe 
extent lie desired. 

Our halt consumed three or four hours. After we started 
an unfortunate pig was found entangled in the framework of 
my sleigh, and before we could let him out he was pretty well 
bruised and skaken up. How he came there we were puzzled 
to know, but I do not believe he ever willingly troubled a 
sleigh again. 

We encountered many caravans of sleds laden with merchan- 
dise. They were made up much like the trains I described 
between Kiachta and Lake Baikal, there being four or five 
sleds to each man. The horses generally guided themselves, 
and followed their leaders with great fidelity. While we were 
stopping to make some repairs near the foot of a hill, I was 
interested in the display of equine intelligence. As a cara- 
van reached the top of the hill each horse stopped till the one 
preceding him had descended. Holding back as if restrained 
by reins he walked half down the descent, and then finished 
the hill and crossed the hollow below it at a trot. One after 
another passed in this manner without guidance, exactly as 
if controlled by a driver. 

I noticed that the horses were quite skillful in selecting the 
best parts of the road. I have occasionally seen a horse 
pause when there were three or four tracks through the snow, 
and make his choice with apparent deliberation. I recollect 
a school boy composition that declared in its first sentence, 
' the horse is a noble animal,' but I never knew until I trav- 
eled in Siberia how much he is entitled to a patent of nobility. 

In the daytime we had little trouble with these caravans, 
as they generally gave us the road on hearing our bells. If 
the way was wide the horses usually turned aside of their 
own accord ; where it was narrow they were unwilling to step 
in the snow, and did not until directed by their drivers. If 
the latter were dilatory our yemshicks turned aside and 
revenged themselves by lashing some of the sled horses and 
all the drivers they could reach. In the night we found more 
difficulty as the caravan horses desired to keep the road, and 



HOW THE MAIL IS CARRIED. 453 

their drivers were generally asleep. We were bumped against 
innumerable sleds in the hours of darkness. The outriggers 
alone prevented our sleighs going to pieces. The trains go- 
ing eastward carried assorted cargoes of merchandise for 
Siberia and China. Those traveling westward were generally 
loaded with tea in chests, covered with cowhide. The amount 
of trafnc over the principal road through Siberia is very 
large. 

When we halted for dinne I brought a bottle of cham- 
pagne from my sleigh. It was the best of the ' Cliquot ' 
brand and frozen as solid as a block of ice. It stood half an 
hour in a warm room before thawing enough to drip slowly 
into our glasses and was the most perfect champagne frappe 
I ever saw. A bottle of cognac was a great deal colder than 
ordinary 'ice, and when we brought it into the station the 
moisture in the warm room congealed upon it to the thick- 
ness of card-board. After this display I doubted the exist- 
ance of latent heat in alcohol. 

Just as we finished dinner the post with five vehicles was 
announced. We hastened to put on our furs and sprang into 
the sleighs with the least possible delay. There was no fear 
that we should lose the first and second set of horses, but the 
last one might be taken for the post as the ladies had only a 
third-class padaroslmia. The yemshicks were as anxious to 
escape as ourselves, as the business of carrying the mail does 
not produce navodka. The post between Irkutsk and Kras- 
noyarsk passes twice a week each way, and we frequently 
encountered it. Where it had just passed a station there was 
occasionally a scarcity of horses that delayed us till village 
teams were brought. 

A postillion accompanies each convoy, and is responsible 
for its security. Travelers sometimes purchase tickets and 
have their vehicles accompany the post, but in so doing their 
patience is pretty severely taxed. The postillion is a soldier 
or other government employe, and must be armed to repel 
robbers. One of these conductors was a boy of fourteen who 
appeared under heavy responsibility. I watched him loading 



4o4 



CLOSE QUARTERS, 




a pistol at a station and was amused at his ostentatious man- 
ner. When the operation was completed he fixed the weapon 
in his belt and swaggered out with the air of the heavy tra- 
gedian at the Old Bowery. Another 
; postillion stuck around with pistols 
mnd knives looked like a military 
museum on its travels. 

From our dining station we left 
the main road, and traveled several 
versts along the frozen surface of 
the Birusa river. The snow lay in 
ridges, and as we drove rapidly over 
them we were tossed like a yawl in 
a hopping sea. It was a foretaste 
of what was in store for me at later 
periods of my journey. The Birusa 
is rich in gold deposits, and the gov- 
ernment formerly maintained exten- 
sive mining establishments in its 
valley. 
About nine o'clock in the evening we voted to take tea. 
On entering the station I found the floor covered with a dor- 
mant mass, exhaling an odor not altogether spicy. I bumped 
my head against a sort of wide shelf suspended eighteen or 
twenty inches from the ceiling, and sustaining several 
sleepers. 

" Here " said Paul, " is another chambre d coucher " as he 
attempted to pull aside a curtain at the top of the brick stove. 
A female head and shoulders were exposed for an instant, 
until a stout hand grasped and retained the curtain. The 
suspended shelf or false ceiling is quite common in the peas- 
ant houses, and especially at the stations. The yemshicks 
and other attaches of the concern are lodged here and on the 
floor, beds being a luxury they rarely obtain. Frequently a 
small house would be as densely packed as the steerage of a 
passenger ship, and I never desired to linger in these crowded 
apartments. A Russian house has little or no ventilation, 



THE CONDUCTOR. 



A SUDDEN CHANGE. 455 

and the effect of a score of sleepers on the : air of a room is 
' better imagined than described.' 

On the road west of Irkutsk the rules require each smot- 
retal to keep ten teams or thirty horses, ready for use. Many 
of them have more than that number, and the villages can 
supply any ordinary demand after the regular force is exhaust- 
ed. Fourteen yemshicks are kept at every station, and always 
ready for service. They are boarded at the expense of the 
smotretal, and receive about five roubles each per month, with 
as much drink-money as they can obtain. Frequently they 
make two journeys a day to the next station, returning with- 
out loads. They appeared on the most amiable terms with 
each other, and I saw no quarreling over their work. 

On our first and second nights from Irkutsk the weather 
was cold, the thermometer standing at fifteen or twenty de- 
grees below zero. On the third day the temperature rose 
quite rapidly, and by noon it was just below the freezing 
point. Our furs designed for cold weather became uncom- 
fortably warm, and I threw off my outer garments and rode 
in my sheepskin coat. In the evening we experienced a 
feeling of suffocation on closing the sleigh, and were glad to 
open it again. We rode all night with the wind beating 
pleasantly against our faces, and from time to time lost our 
consciousness in sleep. For nearly two days the warm 
weather continued, and subjected us to inconveniences. "We 
did not travel as rapidly as in the colder days, the road being 
less favorable, and the horses diminishing their energy with 
the increased warmth. Some of our provisions were in dan- 
ger of spoiling as they were designed for transportation only 
in a frozen state. 

Between Nijne Udinsk and Kansk the snow was scanty, 
and the road occasionally bad. The country preserved its 
slightly undulating character, and presented no features of 
interest. Where we found sufficient snow we proceeded rap- 
idly, sometimes leaving the summer road and taking to the 
open ground, and forests on either side. We pitched into a 
great many oukhabas, analagousto American" hog wallows" 



456 STOPPING AT KANSK. 

or " cradle holes." To clash into one of these at full speed 
gives a shock like a boat's thumping on the shore. It is only 



.TUMPING CRADLE HOLES. 

with pillows, furs, and hay that a traveler can escape contu- 
sions. In mild doses oukhabas are an excellent tonic, hut the 
traveler who takes them in excess may easily imagine him- 
self enjoying a field-day at Donnybrook Fair. 

An hour before reaching Kansk one of our horses fell dead 
and brought us to a sudden halt. The yemshick tried vari- 
ous expedients to discover signs of life but to no purpose. 
Paul and I formed a board of survey, and sat upon the beast ; 
the other sleighs ,passed us during our consultation, and were 
very soon out of sight. When satisfied that the animal, as a 
horse, was of no further use, the yemshick pulled him to the 
roadside, stripped off his harness, and proceeded with our re- 
duced team. I asked who wa-s responsible for the loss, and 
was told it was no affair of ours. The government pays for 
horses killed in the service of couriers, as these gentlemen 
compel very high speed. On a second or third rate padarosli- 
nian the death of a horse is the loss of its owner. Horses 
are not expensive in this region, an ordinary roadster being 
worth from fifteen to twenty roubles. 

Within a mile of Kansk the road was bare of snow, and 
as we had but two horses to our sleigh I proposed walking 
into town. We passed a long train of sleds on their way to 



STOPPING AT KANSK. 457 

market with loads of wood and hay. Tea was ready for us 
when we arrived at the station, and we were equally ready 
for it. After my fifth cup I walked through the public square 
as it was market day, and the people were in the midst of 
traffic. Fish, meat, hay, wood, and a great quantity of mis- 
cellaneous articles were offered for sale. In general terms 
the market was a sort of pocket edition of the one at Irkutsk. 
I practiced my knowledge of Russian in purchasing a quantity 
of rope to use in case of accidents. Foreigners were not 
often seen there if I may judge of the curiosity with which I 
was regarded. 

Kansk is a town of about three thousand inhabitants, and 
stands on the Kan, a tributary of the Yenesei. We were 
told there was little snow to the first station, and were advised 
to take five horses to each sleigh. We found the road a com- 
bination of thin snow and bare ground, the latter predominat- 
ing. We proceeded very well, the yemshicks maintaining sub- 
lime indifference to the character of the track. They plied 
their whips vigorously in the probable expectation of drink- 
money. The one on my sleigh regaled us with an account 
of the perfectly awful condition of the road to Krasnoyarsk. 

About sunset we changed horses, thirty versts from Kansk, 
and found no cheering prospect ahead. We drowned our 
sorrows in the flowing tea-cup, and fortified ourselves with a 
large amount of heat. Tea was the sovereign remedy for 
all our ills, and we used it most liberally. We set out with 
misgivings and promised liberal rewards to the yemshicks, if 
they took us well and safely. The road was undeniably bad, 
with here and there a redeeming streak of goodness. Not- 
withstanding the jolts I slept pretty well during the night. 
In the morning we took tea fifty versts from Krasnoyarsk, 
and learned there was absolutely no snow for the last thirty 
versts before reaching the city. There was fortunately a good 
snow road to the intervening village where we must change 
to wheels. Curiously enough the snow extended up to the 
very door of the last station, and utterly disappeared three 



458 AN ATROCIOUS TEAM. 

feet beyond. Looking one way we saw bare earth, while in 
the other direction there was a good road for sleighing. 

At this point we arranged our programme over the inevit- 
able cakes and tea. The ladies were to leave their vashok 
until their return to Irkutsk ten or twelve days later. The 
remaining sleighs were unladen and mounted upon wheels. 
We piled our baggage into telyagas with the exception of 
a few articles that remained in the sleighs. The ladies with 
their maid took one wagon, while Paul and myself rode in 
another, the man servant conveying the sleighs. The whole 
arrangement was promptly effected ; the villagers scented a 
job on our arrival, and were ready for proposals. My sleigh 
was lifted and fastened into a wagon about as quickly as a 
hackman would arrange a trunk. Place aux dames toujours. 
We sent away the ladies half an hour in advance of the rest 
of the party. 

Our telyaga was a rickety affair, not half so roomy as the 
sleigh, but as the ride was short the discomfort was of little 
consequence. We had four ill conditioned steeds, but before 
we had gone twenty rods one of the brutes persistently faced 
about and attempted to come inside the vehicle, though he 
did not succeed. After vain efforts to set him right, the yem- 
shick turned him loose, and he bolted homeward contentedly. 

We climbed and descended a long hill near the village, 
and then found a level country quite free from snow, and fur- 
nishing a fine road. I was told that very little snow falls 
within twenty miles of Krasnoyarsk, and that it is generally 
necessary to use wheels there in the winter months. The 
reason was not explained to me, but probably the general 
configuration of the country is much like that near Chetah. 
Krasnoyarsk lies on the Yenesei which has a northerly course 
into the Arctic Ocean. The mountains bounding the valley 
are not lofty, but sufficiently high to wring the moisture from 
the snow clouds. Both above and below Krasnoyarsk, there 
,is but little snow even in severe seasons. 

Our animals were superbly atrocious, and made good speed 
only on descending grades. We were four hours going thirty 



WASHING CLOTHES IN WINTER. 459 

versts, and for three-fourths that distance our route was equal 
to the Bloomingdale Road. Occasionally we saw farm houses 
with a dejected appearance as if the winter had come upon 
them unawares. From the quantity of ground enclosed by 
fences I judged the land was fertile, and well cultivated. 

Toward sunset we saw the domes of Krasnoyarsk rising 
beyond the frozen Yenesei. We crossed the river on the ice, 
and passed near several women engaged in rinsing clothes. 

A laundress does her washing at the house, but rinses her 
linen at the river. In summer this may be well enough, but 
it seemed to me that the winter exercise of standing in a keen 
wind with the thermometer below zero, and rinsing clothes 
in a hole cut through the ice was anything but agreeable. It 
was a cold day, and I was well wrapped in furs, but these 
women were in ordinary clothing, and some had bare legs. 
They stood at the edges of circular holes in the ice, and after 
' swashing ' the linen a short time in the water, wrung it with 
their purple hands. How they escaped frost bites I cannot 
imagine 

The Yenesei is a magnificent river, one of the largest in 
Siberia. It is difficult to estimate with accuracy any distance 
upon ice, and I may be far from correct in considering the 
Yenesei a thousand yards wide at Krasnoyarsk. The tele- 
graph wires are supported on tall masts as at the crossing of 
the Missouri near Kansas City. In summer there are two 
steamboats navigating the river from Yeneseiek to the Arctic 
Ocean. Rapids and shoals below Krasnoyarsk prevent their 
ascending to the latter town. The tributaries of the Yenesei 
are quite rich in gold deposits, and support a mining business 
of considerable extent. 

Krasnoyarsk derives its name from the red hills in its vicin- 
ity, and the color of the soil where it stands. It is on the left 
bank of the Yenesei, and has about ten thousand inhabitants. 

It was nearly night when we climbed the sloping road in 
the hillside, and reached the level of the plateau. The ladies 
insisted that we should occupy their house during our stay, 
and utterly forbade our going to the hotel. While walking 



460 A SIBERIAN BANKING HOUSE. 

up the hill the captain hailed a washerwoman, and asked for 
the residence of Madame Rodstvenny. Her reply was so 
voluminous, and so rapidly given that my friend was utterly 
bewildered, and comprehended nothing. To his astonish- 
ment I told him that I understood the direction. 

" Cest impossible ," he declared. 

" By no means," I replied. " The madame lives in a stone 
house to the left of the gastinni dvor. The washerwoman 
said so/' 

Following my advice we found the house. As we entered 
the courtyard, the captain begged to know by what possibili- 
ty I understood in his own language what he could not. 

I explained that while the woman spoke so glibly I caught 
the words " doma, kamen, na leva, gastinni dvor." I under- 
stood only the essential part of her instruction, and was not 
confused by the rest. 

I was somewhat reluctant to convert a private house into 
a hotel as I expected to remain four or five days. But Sibe- 
rian hospitality does not stop at trifles, and my objections 
were promptly overruled. After toilet and dinner, Paul and 
I were parboiled in the bath house of the establishment. An 
able-bodied moujik scrubbed me so thoroughly as to suggest 
the possibility of removing the cuticle. 

In the morning I went to the bank to change some large 
bills into one-rouble notes for use on the road. Horses must 
be paid for at every station, and it is therefore desirable to 
carry the smallest notes with abundance of silver and copper 
to make change. The bank was much like institutions of its 
class elsewhere, and transacted my business promptly. The 
banks in Siberia are branches of the Imperial Bank at St. 
Petersburg. They receive deposits, and negotiate exchanges 
and remittances just like private banks, but do not undertake 
risky business. The officers are servants of the government, 
and receive their instructions from the parent bank. 

My finances arranged, I went to the telegraph office to send 
a message to a friend. My despatch was written in Russian, 
and I paid for message and response. A receipt was given 



THE TELEGEAPH AT KRASNOYARSK. 461 

me stating the day, hour, and minute of filing the despatch, 
its destination, address, length, and amount paid. When I 
received the response I found a statement of the exact time 
it was filed for transmission, and also of its reception at 
Krasnoyarsk. This is the ordinary routine of the Russian 
telegraph system. I commend it to the notice of interested 
persons in America. 

There is no free telegraphing on the government lines, 
every despatch over the wires being paid for by somebody. 
If on government business the sender pays the regular tariff 
and is reimbursed from the treasury. I was told that the 
officers of the telegraph paid for their own family messages, 
but had the privilege of conversing on the lines free of charge. 
High position does not confer immunity. When the Czare- 
vitch was married, General Korsackoff sent his congratula- 
tions by telegraph, and received a response from the Emperor. 
Both messages were paid for by the sender without reduction 
or trust. 

I found the general features of Krasnoyarsk much like 
those of Irkutsk. Official and civilian inhabitants dressed, 
lived, walked, breathed, drank, and gambled like their kin- 
dred nearer the east. It happened to be market day, and the 
public square was densely crowded. I was interested in ob- 
serving the character and abundance of the fish offered for 
sale. Among those with a familiar appearance were the 
sturgeon, perch, and pike, and a small fish resembling our 
alewife. There was a fish unknown to me, with a long snout 
like a duck's bill, and a body on the extreme clipper model. 
All these fish are from the Yenesei, some dwelling there per- 
manently while others ascend annually from the Arctic Ocean. 
All in the market were frozen solid, and the larger ones were 
piled up like cord-wood. 

From the bank overlooking the river there is a fine view 
of the valley of the Yenesei. There are several islands in 
the vicinity, and I was told that in the season of floods the 
stream has a very swift current. It is no easy work to ferry 
across it, and the boats generally descend a mile or two while 



462 



A SIBERIAN NEPTUNE 



paddling over. A few years ago a resident of Krasnoyarsk 
made a remarkable voyage on this river. He bad been at- 




VALLEY OF THE TENESEI. 



tending a wedding several miles 
away on the other bank, and 
started to return late at night so 
as to reach the ferry about day- 
break. His equipage was a wood- 
en telyaga drawn by two powerful horses. Having partaken 
of the cup that inebriates, the man fell asleep and allowed his 
horses to take their own course. Knowing the way perfectly 
they came without accident to the ferry landing, their owner 
still wrapped in his drunken slumber. 

The boat was on the other side, and the horses, no doubt 
hungry and impatient, plunged in to swim across. The tel- 
yaga filled with water, but had sufficient buoyancy not to 
sink. The cold bath waked and sobered the involuntary voy- 
ager when about half way over the river. He had the good 
sense, aided by fright, to remain perfectly still, and was land- 
ed in safety. Those who saw him coming in the early dawn 
were struck with astonishment, and one, at least, imagined 
that he beheld Neptune in his marine chariot breasting the 
waters of the Yenesei. 



STAKTING ON A WOLF HUNT. 463 

My informant vouched for the correctness of the story, and 
gave it as an illustration of the courage and endurance of 
Siberian horses. According to the statement of the condition 
of the river, the beasts could have as easily crossed the Mis- 
sissippi at Memphis in an ordinary stage of water. 

Wolves are abundant in the valley of the Yenesei, though 
they are not generally dangerous to men. An officer whom 
I met there told me they were less troublesome than in Poland, 
and he related his experience with them in the latter country 
while on a visit to the family of a young lady to whom he 
was betrothed. I give his story as nearly as possible in his 
own words. 

" One day my friend Rasloff proposed a wolf hunt. We 
selected the best horses from his stable ; fine, quick, sure- 
footed beasts, with a driver who was unsurpassed in all that 
region for his skill and dash. The sleigh was a large one, 
and we fitted it with a good supply of robes and straw, and 
put a healthy young pig in it to serve as a decoy. We each 
had a gun, and carried a couple of spare guns, with plenty 
of ammunition, so that we could kill as many wolves as pre- 
sented themselves. 

" Just as we were preparing to start, Christina asked to ac- 
company us. I suggested the coldness of the night, and 
Rasloff hinted that the sleigh was too small for three. But 
Christina protested that the air, though sharp, was clear and 
still, and she could wrap herself warmly ; a ride of a few 
hours would do her more good than harm. The sleigh, she 
insisted, was a large one, and afforded ample room. ' Be- 
sides,' she added, ' I will sit directly behind the driver, and 
out of your way, and I want to see a wolf-hunt very much in- 
deed.' 

" So we consented. Christina arrayed herself in a few 
moments, and we started on our excursion. 

" The servants were instructed to hang out a light in front 
of the entrance to the courtyard. It was about sunset when 
we left the chateau and drove out upon the plain, covered 
here and there with patches of forest. The road we followed 



464 ROUGH ON THE PIG. 

was well trodden by the many peasants on their way to the 
fair at the town, twenty-five miles away. We traveled slow- 
ly, not wishing to tire our horses, and, as we left the half 
dozen villages that clustered around the chateau, we had the 
road entirely to ourselves. The moon rose soon after sunset, 
and as it was at the full, it lighted up the plain very clearly, 
and seemed to stand out quite distinct from the deep blue sky 
and the bright stars that sparkled everywhere above the hori- 
zon. We chatted gayly as we rode along. The time passed 
so rapidly that I was half surprised when Rasloff told me to 
get ready to hunt wolves. 

" The pig had been lying very comfortably in the bottom 
of the sleigh, and protested quite loudly as we brought him 
out. The rope had been made ready before we started from 
home, and so the most we had to do was to turn the horses 
around, get our guns ready, and throw the pig upon the 
ground. He set up a piercing shriek as the rope dragged him 
along, and completely drowned our voices. Paul had hard 
work to keep the horses from breaking into a run, but he suc- 
ceeded, and we maintained a very slow trot. Christina nes- 
tled in the place she had agreed to occupy, and Rasloff and 
I prepared to shoot the wolves. 

" We drove thus for fifteen or twenty minutes. The pig 
gradually became exhausted, and reduced his scream to a sort 
of moan that was very painful to hear. I began to think we 
should see no wolves, and return to the chateau without firing 
our guns, when suddenly a howl came faintly along the air, 
and in a moment, another and another. 

"'There,' said Rasloff ; 'there comes our game, and we 
shall have work enough before long.' 

" A few moments later I saw a half dozen dusky forms 
emerging from the forest to the right and behind us. They 
seemed like moving spots on the snow, and had it not been 
for their howling I should have failed to notice them as early 
as I did. They grew more and more numerous, and, as they 
gathered behind us, formed a waving line across the road 
that gradually took the shape of a crescent, with the horns 



EAPID WOEK WITH SHOT-GUNS. 465 

pointing toward our right and left. At first they were timid, 
and kept a hundred yards or more behind us, but as the hog 
renewed his scream, they took courage, and approached 
nearer. 

" By the time they were within fifty yards there were two 
or three hundred of them — possibly half a thousand. I 
could see every moment that their numbers were increasing, 
and it was somewhat impatiently that I waited Rasloff 's sig- 
nal to fire. At last he told me to begin, and I fired at the 
center of the pack. The wolf I struck gave a howl of pain, 
and his companions, roused by the smell of blood, fell upon 
and tore him to pieces in a moment. Rasloff fired an in- 
stant after me, and then we kept up our firing as fast as pos- 
sible. As the wolves fell, the others sprung upon them, but 
the pack was so large that they were not materially detained 
by stopping to eat up their brethren. They continued the 
pursuit, and what alarmed me, they came nearer, and showed 
very little fear of our guns. 

" We had taken a large quantity of ammunition — more by 
half than we thought would possibly be needed — but its quan- 
tity diminished so rapidly as to suggest the probability of ex- 
haustion. The pack steadily came nearer. We cut away 
the pig, but it stopped the pursuit only for a moment. Di- 
rectly behind us the wolves were not ten yards away ; on 
each side they were no further from the horses, who were 
snorting with fear, and requiring all the efforts of the driver 
to hold them. We shot down the beasts as fast as possible, 
and as I saw our danger I whispered my thoughts to Rasloff. 

" He replied to me in Spanish, which Christina did not un- 
derstand, that the situation was really dangerous, and we 
must prepare to get out of it. ' I would stay longer,' he sug- 
gested, ' though there is a good deal of risk in it ; but we 
must think of the girl, and not let her suspect anything 
wrong, and, above all, must not risk her safety.' 

" Turning to the driver, he said, in a cheery tone : 

" ' Paul, we have shot till we are tired out. You may let 
the horses go, but keep them well in control.' 
30 



466 A TEREIBLE MOMENT. 

" While he spoke a huge wolf sprang from the pack and 
dashed toward one of the horses. Another followed him, 
and in twenty seconds the line was broken and they were 
upon us. One wolf jumped at the rear of the sleigh and 
caught his paws upon it. Rasloff struck him with the butt 
of his gun, and at the same instant he delivered the blow, 
Paul let the horses have their way. Rasloff fell upon the 
edge of the vehicle and over its side. Luckily, his foot 
caught in one of the robes and held him for an instant — long 
enough to enable me to seize and draw him back. It was the 
work of a moment, but what a moment ! 

" Christina had remained silent, suspecting, but not fully 
comprehending our danger. As her brother fell she screamed 
and dropped senseless to the bottom of the sleigh. I confess 
that I exerted all my strength in that effort to save the 
brother of my affianced, and as I accomplished it, I sank 
powerless, though still conscious, at the side of the girl I 
loved. Rasloff 's right arm was dislocated by the fall, and 
one of the pursuing wolves had struck his teeth into his 
scalp as he was dragging over the side, and torn it so that it 
bled profusely. How narrow had been his escape ! 

" ' Faster, faster, Paul ! ' he shouted ; ' drive for your life 
and for ours.' 

" Paul gave the horses free rein, and they needed no urg- 
ing. They dashed along the road as horses rarely ever dash- 
ed before. In a few minutes I gained strength enough to 
raise my head, and saw, to my unspeakable delight, that the 
distance between us and the pack was increasing. We were 
safe if no accident occurred and the horses could maintain 
their pace. 

" One horse fell, but, as if knowing his danger, made a 
tremendous effort and gained his feet. By-and-by we saw the 
light at the chateau, and in a moment dashed into the court- 
yard, and were safe." 



CHAPTER XL. 

I FOUND at Krasnoyarsk more beggars than in Irkutsk, 
in proportion to the population. Like beggars in all 
parts of the empire, they made the sign of the cross on re- 
ceiving donations. A few were young, but the great majority 
were old, tattered, and decrepid, who shivered in the frosty 
air, and turned purple visages upon their benefactors. The 
peasantry in Russia are liberal to the poor, and in many lo- 
calities they have abundant opportunities to practice charity. 

With its abundance of beggars Krasnoyarsk can also boast 
a great many wealthy citizens. The day before my depar- 
ture one of these Siberian Croesuses died, and another was 
expected to follow his example before long. A church near 
the market place was built at the sole expense of this de- 
ceased individual. Rs cost exceeded seven hundred thousand 
roubles, and its interior was said to be finely decorated. 
Among the middle classes in Siberia the erection of churches 
is, or has been, the fashionable mode of public benefaction. 
The endowment of schools, libraries, and scientific associa- 
tions has commenced, but is not yet fully popular. 

The wealth of Krasnoyarsk is chiefly derived from gold 
digging. The city may be considered the center of mining 
enterprises in the government of Yeneseisk. Two or three 
thousand laborers in the gold mines spend the winter at Kras- 
noyarsk, and add to the volume of local commerce. The 
town of Yeneseisk, three hundred versts further north, hiber- 
nates an equal number, and many hundreds are scattered 
through the villages in the vicinity. The mining season be- 
gins in May and ends in September. In March and April the 

(46T) 



468 PREPARING THE GROUND. 

clerks and superintendents engage their laborers, paying a 
part of their wages in advance. The wages are not high, and 
only those in straitened circumstances, the dissolute, and 
profligate, who have no homes of their own, are inclined to 
let themselves to labor in gold mines. 

Many works are extensive, and employ a thousand or more 
laborers each. The government grants mining privileges to 
individuals on certain conditions. The land granted must be 
worked at least one year out of every three, else the title re- 
verts to the government, and can be allotted again. The 
grantee must be either a hereditary nobleman or pay the tax 
of a merchant of the second guild, or he should be able to 
command the necessary capital for the enterprise he under- 
takes. His title holds good until his claim is worked out or 
abandoned, and no one can disturb him on any pretext. He 
receives a patent for a strip of land seven versts long and a 
hundred fathoms wide, on the banks of a stream suitable for 
mining purposes. The claim extends on both sides of the 
stream, and includes its bed, so that the water may be utiliz- 
ed at the will of the miner. 

Sometimes the grantee desires a width of more than a hun- 
dred fathoms, but in such case the length of his claim is 
shortened in proportion. 

It requires a large capital to open a claim after the grant 
is obtained. The location is often far from any city or large 
town, where supplies are purchased. Transportation is a 
heavy item, as the roads are difficult to travel. Sometimes a 
hundred thousand roubles will be expended in supplies, trans- 
portation, buildings, and machinery, before the work begins. 
Then men must be hired, taken to the mines, clothed, and 
furnished with proper quarters. The proprietor must have 
at hand a sufficient amount of provisions, medical stores, 
clothing, and miscellaneous goods to supply his men during 
the summer. Everything desired by the laborer is sold to 
him at a lower price than he could buy elsewhere, at least 
such is the theory. I was told that the mining proprietors 
make no profits from their workmen, but simply add the cost 



TREATMENT OP THE GOLD MINERS. 469 

of transportation to the wholesale price of the merchandise. 
The men are allowed to anticipate their wages by purchase, 
and it often happens that there is very little due them at the 
end of the season. 

Government regulations and the interest of proprietors re- 
quire that the laborers should be well fed and housed and 
tended during sickness. Every mining establishment main- 
tains a physician either on its own account or jointly with a 
neighbor. The national dish of Russia, schee, is served daily, 
with at least a pound of beef. Sometimes the treatment of 
the men lapses into negligence toward the close of the season, 
especially if the enterprise is unfortunate ; but this is not the 
case in the early months. The mining proprietors under- 
stand the importance of keeping their laborers in good health, 
and to secure this end there is nothing better than proper 
food and lodging. Yodki is dealt out in quantities sufficient- 
ly small to prevent intoxication, except on certain feast-days, 
when all can get drunk to their liking. No drinking shops 
can be kept on the premises until the season's work is over 
and the men are preparing to depart. 

Every laborer is paid for extra work, and if industrious 
and prudent his wages will equal thirty-five or forty roubles 
a month beside his board. "While in debt he is required by 
law to work every day, not even resting on Saints' days or 
Sundays. The working season lasting only about four months, 
early and late hours are a necessity. When the year's ope- 
rations are ended the most of the men find their way to the 
larger towns, where they generally waste their substance in 
riotous living till the return of spring. As in mining com- 
munities everywhere, the prudent and economical are a mi- 
nority. 

The mines in the government of Yeneseisk are generally 
on the tributaries of the Yenesei river. The valley of the 
Pit is rich in gold deposits, and has yielded large fortunes to 
lucky operators during the past twenty years. Usually the 
pay-dirt begins twenty or thirty feet below the surface, and I 
heard of a mine that yielded handsome profits though the 



470 MINES IN YENESEISK. 

gold-bearing earth was under seventy feet of soil. Prospect- 
ing is conducted with great care, and no mining enterprise is 
commenced without a thorough survey of the region to be 
developed. Wells or pits are dug at regular intervals, the 
exact depth and the character of the upper earth being noted. 
This often involves a large expenditure of money and labor, 
and many fortunes have been wasted, by parties whose lucky 
star was not in the ascendant, in their persistent yet unsuc- 
cessful search for paying mines. 

Solid rock is sometimes struck sooner or later after com- 
mencing work, which renders the expense of digging vastly 
greater. In such cases, unless great certainty exists of strik- 
ing a rich vein of gold beneath, the labor is suspended, the 
spot vacated, and another selected with perhaps like results. 

Occasionally some sanguine operator will push his well 
down through fifty feet of solid rock at a great outlay, and 
with vast labor, to find himself possessed of the means for a 
large fortune, while another will find himself ruined by his 
failure to strike the expected gold. 

When the pay-dirt is reached, its depth and the number of 
zolotniks of gold in every pood taken out are ascertained. 
With the results before him a practical miner can readily de- 
cide whether a place will pay for working. Of course he 
must take many contingent facts into consideration, such as 
the extent of the placer, the resources of the region, the roads 
or the expense of making them, provisions, lumber, transpor- 
tation, horses, tools, men, and so on through a long list. 

The earth over the pay-dirt is broken up and carted off ; 
its great depth causes immense wear of horseflesh. A small 
mine employs three or four hundred workmen, and larger 
ones in proportion. I heard of one that kept more than three 
thousand men at work. The usual estimate for horses is one 
to every two men, but the proportion varies according to the 
character of the mine. 

The pay-dirt is hauled to the bank of the river, where it is 
washed in machines turned by water power. Various ma- 
chines have been devised for gold-washing, and the Russians 



MINING IN FROZEN EAETH. 471 

are anxious to find the best invention of the kind. The one 
in most general use and the easiest to construct is a long 
cylinder of sheet iron open at both ends and perforated with 
many small holes. This revolves in a slightly inclined posi- 
tion, and receives the dirt and a stream of water at the upper 
end. The stones pass through the cylinder and fall from the 
opposite end, where they are examined to prevent the loss of 
' nuggets.' Fine dirt, sand, gold, and water pass through the 
perforations, and are caught in suitable troughs, where the 
lighter substance washes away and leaves the black sand and 
gold. 

Great care is exercised to prevent thefts, but it does not 
always succeed. The laborers manage to purloin small quan- 
tities, which they sell to contraband dealers in the larger 
towns. The government forbids private traffic in gold dust, 
and punishes offences with severity ; but the profits are large 
and tempting. Every gold miner must send the product of 
his diggings to the government establishment at Barnaool, 
where it is smelted and assayed. The owner receives its 
money value, minus the Imperial tax of fifteen per cent. 

The whole valley of the Yenesei, as far as explored, is au- 
riferous. Were it not for the extreme rigor of its climate 
and the disadvantages of location, it would become immense- 
ly productive. §ome mines have been worked at a profit 
where the earth is solidly frozen and must be thawed by arti- 
ficial means. One way of accomplishing this is by piling 
wood to a height of three or four feet and then setting it on 
fire. The earth thawed by the heat is scraped off, and fresh 
fires are made. Sometimes the frozen earth is dug up and 
soaked in water. Either process is costly, and the yield of 
gold must be great to repay the outlay. A gentleman in Ir- 
kutsk told me he had a gold mine of this frozen character, 
and intimated that he found it profitable. The richest gold 
mines thus far worked in Siberia are in the government of 
Yeneseisk, but it is thought that some of the newly opened 
placers in the Trans-Baikal province and along the Amoor 
will rival them in productiveness. 



472 



GOLD-BEARING QUARTZ. 



In Irkutsk I met a Russian who had spent some months in 
California, and proposed introducing hydraulic mining to the 
Siberians. No quartz mines have been worked in Eastern 







' -, , 1,1 



o-» 



3a^ 

:-.'-;i-o;>^ ,, ,v^-: 










. '" 



wm 







Siberia, but sev- 
eral rich leads 
are known to ex- 
ist, and I presume 
a thorough explo- 
ration would re- 
veal many more. 
I saw excellent 
specimens of gold-bearing quartz from the governments of 
Irkutsk and Yeneseisk. One specimen in particular, if in 
the hands of certain New York operators, would be sufficient 



HYDRAULIC MINING. 



THE SIBERIAN TARTARS. 473 

basis for a company with a capital of half a million. In the 
Altai and Ural mountains quartz mills have been in use for 
many years. 

The Siberian gold deposits were made available long before 
Russia explored and conquered Northern Asia. There are 
many evidences in the Ural mountains of extensive mining 
operations hundreds of years ago. Large areas have been 
dug over by a people of whom the present inhabitants can 
give no account. It is generally supposed that the Tartars 
discovered and opened these gold mines shortly after the time 
of Genghis Khan. 

The native population of the valley of the Yenesei com- 
prises several distinct tribes, belonging in common to the 
great Mongolian race. In the extreme north, in the region 
bordering the Arctic Ocean, are the Samoyedes, who are of 
the same blood as the Turks. The valley of the Lena is peo- 
pled by Yakuts, whose development far exceeds that of the 
Samoyedes, though both are of common origin. The latter 
are devoted entirely to the chase and the rearing of reindeer, 
and show no fondness for steady labor. The Yakuts employ 
the horse as a beast of burden, and are industrious, ingen- 
ious, and patient. As much as the character of the country 
permits they till the soil, and are not inclined to nomadic life. 
They aie hardy and reliable laborers, and live on the most 
amicable terms with the Russians. 

Before the opening of the Amoor the carrying trade from 
Yakutsk to Ohotsk was in their hands. As many as forty 
thousand horses used to pass annually between the two points, 
nearly all of them owned and driven by Yakuts. 

Most of these natives have been converted to Christianity, 
but they still adhere to some of their ancient practices. On 
the road, for example, they pluck hairs from their horse's 
tails and hang them upon trees to appease evil spirits. Some 
of the Russians have imbibed native superstitions, and there 
is a story of a priest who applied to a shaman to practice his 
arts and ward off evil in a journey he was about to make. 
Examples to the natives are not always of the best, and it 



474 AN EASTEEN LEGEND. 

would not be surprising if they raised doubts as to the supe- 
riority of Christian faith. A traveler who had a mixed party 
of Cossacks and natives, relates that the former were accus- 
tomed to say their prayers three or four times on evenings 
when they had plenty of leisure and omit them altogether 
when they were fatigued. At Nijne Kolymsk Captain Wran- 
gell found the priests holding service three times on one Sun- 
day and then absenting themselves for two weeks. 

South of Krasnoyarsk are the natives belonging to the 
somewhat indefinite family known as Tartars. They came 
originally from Central Asia, and preserve many Mongol hab- 
its added to some created by present circumstances. Some 
of them dwell in houses, while others adhere to yourts of the 
same form and material as those of the Bouriats and Mon- 
gols. They are agriculturists in a small way, but only adopt 
tilling the soil as a last resort. Their wealth consists in 
sheep, cattle, and horses, and when one of them has large 
possessions he changes his habitation two or three times a 
year, on account of pasturage. A gentleman told me that he 
once found a Tartar, whose flocks and herds were worth more 
than a million roubles, living in a tent of ordinary dimensions 
and with very little of what a European would call comfort. 
These natives harmonize perfectly with the Russians, of whom 
they have a respectful fear. 

Like their kindred in Central Asia, these Tartars are ex- 
cellent horsemen, and show themselves literally at home in 
the saddle. Dismounted, they step clumsily, and are unable 
to walk any distance of importance. On horseback they have 
an easy and graceful carriage, and are capable of great en- 
durance. They show intense love for their horses, caressing 
them constantly and treating their favorite riding animals as 
household pets. In all their songs and traditions the horse 
occupies a prominent place. 

One of the most popular Tartar songs, said to be of great 
antiquity, relates the adventures of " Swan's Wing," a beau- 
tiful daughter of a native chief. Her brother had been over- 
powered by a magician and carried to the spirit land. Ac- 



A TARTAR ALLEGORY. 475 

cording to the tradition the horse he rode came to Swan's 
Wing and told her what had occurred. The young girl beg- 
ged him to lead her by the road the magician had taken, and 
thus guided, she reached the country of the shades. Assisted 
by the horse she was able to rescue her brother from the 
prison where he was confined. On her return she narrated 
to her people the incidents of her journey, which are chanted 
at the present time. The song tells how one of the super- 
natural guardians was attracted by her beauty and became 
her valet de place during her visit. 

Near the entrance of the grounds she saw a fat horse in a 
sandy field, and a lean one in a meadow. A thin and appar-' 
ently powerless man was wading against a torrent, while a 
large and muscular one could not stop a small brook. 

" The first horse," said her guide, " shows that a careful 
master can keep his herds in good condition with scanty pas- 
turage, and the second shows how easily one may fail to pros- 
per in the midst of plenty. The man stemming the torrent 
shows how much one can accomplish by the force of will, 
even though the body be weak. The strong man is over- 
powered by the little stream, because he lacks intelligence 
and resolution." 

She was next led through several apartments of a large 
building. In the first apartment several women were spin- 
ning incessantly, while others attempted to swallow balls of 
hemp. Next she saw women holding heavy stones in their 
hands and unable to put them down. Then there were par- 
ties playing without cessation upon musical instruments, and 
others busy over games of chance. In one room were men 
and dogs enraged and biting each other. In a dormitory 
were many couples with quilts of large dimensions, but in 
each couple there was an active struggle, and its quilt was 
frequently pulled aside. In the last hall of the establish- 
ment there were smiling couples, at peace with all the world 
and ' the rest of mankind.' The song closes with the guide's 
explanation of what Swan's Wing had seen. 

" The women who spin now are punished because in their 



476 THE SCENE AND THE LESSON. 

lives they continued to spin after sunset, when they should 
be at rest. 

Those who swallow balls of hemp were guilty of stealing 
thread by making their cloth too thin. 

Those condemned to hold heavy stones were guilty of put- 
ting stones in their butter to make it heavy. 

The parties who make music and gamble did nothing else 
in their life time, and must continue that employment per- 
petually. 

The men with the dogs are suffering the penalty of having 
created quarrels on earth. 

The couples who freeze under ample covering are punished 
for their selfishness when mortals, and the couples in the 
next apartment are an example to teach the certainty of hap- 
piness to those who develop kindly disposition." 

The region of the Lower Yenesei contains many exiles 
whom the government desired to remove far from the centers 
of population. These include political and criminal prison- 
ers, whose offences are of a high grade, together with the 
members of a certain religious order, known as " The Skop- 
tsi." The latter class is particularly obnoxious on account 
of its practice of mutilation. Whenever an adherent of this 
sect is discovered he is banished to the remotest regions, 
either in the north of Siberia or among the mountains of Cir- 
cassia. It is the only religious body relentlessly persecuted 
by the Russian government, and the persecution is based upon 
the sparseness of population. Some of these men have been 
incorporated into regiments on the frontier, where they prove 
obedient and tractable. Those who become colonists in Si- 
beria are praised for their industry and perseverance, and in- 
variably win the esteem of their neighbors. They are banish- 
ed to distant localities through fear of their influence upon 
those around them. Most of the money-changers of Moscow 
are reputed to believe in this peculiar faith. 

Many prominent individuals were exiled to the Lower Yen- 
esei and regions farther eastward, under former sovereigns. 
Count Golofkin, one of the ministers of Catherine II. , was 



AN ECCENTRIC EXILE, 



477 



banished to Nijne Kolymsk, where he died. It is said that 
he used to put himself, his servants, and house in deep mourn- 
ing on every anniversary of Catherine's birthday. Two offi- 
cers of the court of the emperor Paul were exiled to a small 
town on the Yenesei, where they lived until recalled by Alex- 
ander I. 

The settlers on the Angara are freed from liability to con- 
scription, on condition that they furnish rowers and pilots to 
boats navigating that stream. The settlers on the Lena en- 
joy the same privilege under similar terms. On account of 
the character of the country and the drawbacks to prosperity, 
the taxes are much lighter than in more favored regions. In 
the more northern districts there is a considerable trade in 
furs and ivory. The latter comes in the shape of walrus 
tusks, and the tusks and teeth of the mammoth, which are 
gathered on the shores of the Arctic Ocean and the islands 
scattered through it. This trade is less extensive than it was 
forty or fifty years ago. 




CHAPTER XLI. 

I SPENT three days in Krasnoyarsk, chiefly employed up- 
on my letters and journal. My recent companions were 
going no farther in my direction, and knowing this before- 
hand, I arranged with a gentleman at Irkutsk to travel with 
him from Krasnoyarsk. He arrived two days behind me, 
and after sending away a portion of his heavy baggage, was 
ready to depart. There was no snow to the first station, and 
so we sent our sleighs on wheels and used the post carriages 
over the bare ground. A peasant who lived near the station 
sought me out and offered to transport my sleigh for three 
roubles and a little drink-money. As I demurred, he pro- 
posed to repair, without extra charge, one of my fenders 
which had come to grief, and we made a bargain on this pro- 
position. 

My companion, Dr. Schmidt, had recently returned from a 
mammoth-hunting expedition within the Arctic circle. He 
had not secured a perfect specimen of this extinct beast, but 
contented himself with some parts of the stupendous whole, 
and a miscellaneous collection of birds, bugs, and reptiles. 
He despatched a portion of his treasures by post ; the balance, 
with his assistant, formed a sufficient load for one sleigh. 
The doctor was to ride in my sleigh, while his assistant in 
another vehicle kept company with the relicts. The kegs, 
boxes, and bundles of Arctic zoology did not form a comfort- 
able couch, and I never envied their conductor. 

On the day fixed for our departure we sent our papers to 
the station in the forenoon, and were told we could be sup- 
plied at sunset or a little later. This was not to our liking, 

(478) 



TALKING AGAINST TIME. 479 

as we desired to reach the first station before nightfall. A 
friend suggested an appeal to the Master of the post, and to- 
gether we proceeded to that functionary's office. An amiable, 
quiet man he was, and listened to our complaint with perfect 
composure. After hearing it he summoned the smotretal 
with his book of records, and an animated discussion followed. 
I expected to see somebody grow indignant, but the whole 
affair abounded in good nature. 

The conversation was conducted with the decorum of a 
school dialogue on exhibition day. In half an hour by the 
clock I was told I could have a troika at once, in considera- 
tion of my special passport. " Wait a little," whispered my 
friend in French, "and we will have the other troika for 
Schmidt." 

So I waited, kicking my heels about the room, studying the 
posters on the walls, eyeing a bad portrait of the emperor, 
and a worse one of the empress, and now and then drawing 
near the scene of action. The clerks looked at me in furtive 
glances. At every pronunciation of my name, coupled with 
the word " Amerikansky," there was a general stare all 
around. I am confident those attaches of the post office at 
Krasnoyarsk had a perfect knowledge of my features. 

In exactly another half hour our point and the horses were 
gained. When we entered the office it was positively declar- 
ed there were no horses to be had, and it was a little odd 
that two troikas and six horses, could be produced out of 
nothing, and each of them at the end of a long talk. I ask- 
ed an explanation of the mystery, but was told it was a Rus- 
sian peculiarity that no American could understand. 

The horses came very promptly, one troika to Schmidt's 
lodgings and the other to mine. The servants packed my 
baggage into the little telyaga that was to carry me to the 
first station. Joining Schmidt with the other team, we rat- 
tled out of town on an excellent road, and left the red hills 
of Krasnoyarsk. The last object I saw denoting the location 
of the town was a church or chapel on a high cliff overlook- 
ing the Yenesei valley. 



480 DIFFICULTIES OF CHANGING. 

The road lay over an undulating region, where there were 
few streams and very little timber. The snow lay in little 
patches here and there on the swells least exposed to the sun, 
but it did not cover a twentieth part of the ground. In sev- 
eral hollows the mud had frozen and presented a rough sur- 
face to our wheels. Our telyaga had no springs, and when 
we went at a rapid trot over the worst places the bones of 
my spinal column seemed engaged in a struggle for indepen- 
dence. A thousand miles of such riding would have been 
too much for me. A dog belonging to Madame Radstvenny's 
house-keeper followed me from Krasnoyarsk, but did not show 
himself till we were six or eight versts away. Etiquette, to 
say nothing of morality, does not sanction stealing the dog 
of your host, and so I arranged for the brute's return. In 
consideration of fifty copecks the yemshick agreed to take 
the dog on his homeward trip and deliver him in good order 
and condition at Krasnoyarsk. 

Just before reaching the first station we passed through a 
village nearly four miles long, but only a single street in 
width. The station was at the extreme end of the village : 
our sleighs were waiting for us, and so were the men who 
brought them from Krasnoyarsk. There was no snow for 
the next twenty versts, and consequently the sleighs needed 
further transportation. Schmidt's sleigh was dragged empty 
over the bare ground, but mine, being heavier, was mounted 
upon wheels. 

Other difficulties awaited us. There was but one troika to 
spare and only one telyaga. "We required two vehicles for 
ourselves and baggage, but the smotretal could not accom- 
modate us. We ordered the samovar, and debated over our 
tea. I urged my friend to try the effect of my special pass- 
port, which had always been successful in Paul's hands. He 
did so after our tea-drinking, but the document was power- 
less, the smotretal doubtless arguing that if the paper were 
of consequence we should have shown it on our arrival. TTe 
sent it to the starost, or head man of the village, but that 
worthy declined to honor it, and we were left to shift for our- 



AT HOME IN OUR SLEIGH. 481 

selves. Evidently the power of the Governor General's pass- 
port was on the wane. 

The document was a request, not an order, and therefore 
had no real force. Paul always displayed it as if it were an 
Imperial ukase. His manner of spreading the double page 
and exhibiting seal and signature carried authority and pro- 
duced horses. The amiable naturalist had none of the qual- 
ity called ' cheek,' and the adoption of an authoritative air 
did not accord with his character. He subsequently present- 
ed the passport as if he thought it all-powerful, and on such 
occasions it generally proved so. A man who wishes to pass 
a doorkeeper at a caucus, enter a ladies' car on a railway, or 
obtain a reserved seat in a court room, is much more certain 
of success if he advances with a confident air than if he 
hesitates and appears fearful of ejection. Humanity is the 
same the world over, and there is more than a shadow of 
truth in the saying that society values a man pretty much as 
he appears to value himself. I can testify that the smotretals 
in Siberia generally regarded our papers according to our 
manner of showing them. 

We took tea a second time, parlayed with the yemshicks 
and their friends, and closed by chartering a team at double 
the regular rates. Just before reaching the snow we passed 
the sleighs, and halted for them to come up. My sleigh was 
very soon ready, and we rejoiced at our transfer of baggage. 
During the change a bottle of cognac disappeared mysterious- 
ly, and I presume we shall never see it again. The other 
and more cumbersome articles preserved their numbers faith- 
fully. Our party halting in the moonlight and busy about 
the vehicles, presented a curiously picturesque appearance. 
Schmidt was in his Arctic costume, while I wore my winter 
dress, minus the dehar. The yemshicks were wrapped in 
their inevitable sheepskins, and bustled about with unwaver- 
ing good humor. 

In the sleigh we were at home, and had a roof to cover us ; 
we made very good speed to the station, where we found no 
horses. The floor of the travelers' room was covered with 
31 



482 KEEPING THE FEAST DAYS. 

dormant figures, and after bumping my head over the door- 
way, I waded in a pond of bodies, heads, and legs. The 
moon was the only light, and its beams were not sufficient to 
prevent my stepping on several sleepers, and extracting Rus- 
sian oaths for my carelessness. 

" Now for it," I whispered to the good-natured doctor, as 
we waked the smotretal. u Make him think our papers are 
important." 

The official rubbed his eyes over the passport, and then 
hastened to arouse the starost. The latter ordered horses 
from the village without delay. 

It had been a fete-day in honor of the Emperor, and most 
of the villagers were drunk, so that it required some time to 
assemble the requisite yemshicks and horses. A group of 
men and women from an evening party passed the station, 
and amused us with native songs. An inebriated moujik, 
riding on a small sled, turned from the road to enter the sta- 
tion yard. One side of the sled passed over a log, and as 
the man had not secured his balance, he rolled out of sight 
in a snow drift. I watched him as he emerged, much as 
Neptune might appear from the crest of a foamy wave. 

The Siberians keep all the Imperial fete-days with scrupu- 
lous exactness, and their loyalty to the emperor is much akin 
to religious awe. The whole Imperial family is the object of 
great respect, and whatever is commanded in the name of 
the emperor meets the most cheerful acquiescence. One finds 
the portrait of Alexander in almost every house, and I never 
heard the name of that excellent ruler mentioned disrespect- 
fully. If His Majesty would request that his subjects abstain 
from vodki drinking on Imperial fete-days, he would do much 
toward their prosperity. It would be an easy beginning in 
the cause of temperance, as no one could consider it out of 
place for the emperor to prescribe the manner of celebrating 
his own festivals. The work once begun in this way, would 
be likely to lead to good results. Drunkenness is the great 
vice of the Russian peasant, and will never be suppressed 
without the active endeavors of the government. 



AMONG THE SNOW BANKS. 



483 




DOWN HILL. 



When we started from the station we ran against the gate 
post, and were nearly overturned in consequence. My head 
came against the side of the sleigh with a heavy thump that 
affected me 
more than it 
did the vehi- 
cle. We de- 
scended a 
long hill at 
a full run, 
and as our 
f ems hick 
was far from 
sober I had 
a lively ex- 
pectation of 
a general 
smash at the 
bottom. 

About half way down the descent we met a sleigh and dashed 
our fenders against it. The strong poles rubbed across each 
other like fencing foils, and withstood the shock finely. 

At sunset there were indications of a snow storm in the 
gradual ascent of the thermometer. An hour past midnight 
the temperature was above freezing point, and the sleigh run- 
ners lost that peculiar ringing sound that indicates cold 
weather. I threw off my furs and endeavored to sleep, but 
accomplished little in that direction. My clothing was too 
thick or too thin. Without my furs I shivered, and with 
them I perspired. My sleigh robe was too much for comfort, 
and the absence of it left something to be desired. Warm 
weather is a great inconvenience in a Siberian winter journey. 
The best temperature for travel is from five to fifteen degrees 
below the freezing point. 

The road was abominable, though it might have been worse. 
It was full of drifts, bare spots, and oukhabas, and our motion 
was as varied as a politician's career. Sometimes it was up, 



484 HUNTING A MAMMOTH. 

then down, then sidewise, and then all ways at once. We 
pitched and rolled like a canoe descending the Lachine rap- 
ids, or a whale-boat towed by a hundred-barrel " bow-head.", 
In many places the snow was blown from the regular road, 
and the winter track wound through fields and forests wher- 
ever snow could be found. There was an abundance of rocks, 
stumps, and other inequalities to relieve the monotony of this 
mode of travel. We went much out of our way to find snow, 
and I think we sometimes increased, by a third or a half, the 
distance between stations. The road was both horizontally 
and vertically tortuous. 

My companion took every occurrence with the utmost cool- 
ness, and taught me some things in patience I had not known 
before. He was long accustomed to Siberian travel, having 
made several scientific journeys through Northern Asia. In 
1859 the Russian Geographical Society sent him to visit the 
Amoor valley and explore the island of Sakhalin. His jour- 
ney thither was accomplished in winter, and when he return- 
ed he brought many valuable data touching the geology and 
the vegetable and animal life of the island. He told me he 
spoke the American language, having learned it among my 
countrymen at Nicolayevsk, but had never studied English. 
His journey to the Arctic Circle was made on behalf of the 
Russian Academy of Science, of which he was an active 
member. 

In 1865 the captain of a Yenesei steamer learned that 
some natives had discovered the perfectly preserved remains 
of a mammoth in latitude 67°, about a hundred versts west 
of the river. He announced the fact to a savant, who sent 
the intelligence to St. Petersburg. Scientific men deemed 
the discovery so important that they immediately commis- 
sioned Dr. Schmidt to follow it up. The doctor went to 
Eastern Siberia in February, and in the following month pro- 
ceeded down the Yenesei to Turuhansk, where he remained 
four or five weeks waiting for the season of warmth and light. 
He was accompanied by Mr. Lopatin, a Russian geologist, 
and a staff of three or four assistants. They carried a pho- 



FINDING THE SKELETON OF A MAMMOTH. 485 

tographic apparatus, and one of the sensations of their voy- 
age was to take photographs at midnight in the light of a 
blazing sun. 

When the Yenesei was free of ice the explorers, in a barge, 
descended from Turuhansk to the landing place nearest the 
mammoth deposit. Several Cossacks accompanied the party 
from Turuhansk, and assisted in its intercourse with the na- 
tives. The latter were peacefully inclined, and gladly served 
the men who came so recently from the emperor's dwelling 
place. They brought their reindeer and sledges, and guided 
the explorers to the object of their search. The country in 
the Arctic Circle has very little vegetation, and the drift wood 
that descends the Yenesei is an important item to the few 
natives along the river. The trees growing north of latitude 
QQ° are very small, and as one nears the coast of the Frozen 
Ocean they disappear altogether. The principal features of 
the country are the wide tundras, or moss-covered plains, 
similar to those of North Eastern Siberia. 

The scattered aboriginals are Tunguse and Samoyedes. 
Their chief employment is the chase in winter, fishing in 
summer, and the care of their reindeer at all seasons. Rein- 
deer form their principal wealth, and are emphatically the 
circulating medium of the country. Dr. Schmidt told me he 
rode in a reindeer sledge from the river to within a short dis- 
tance of the mammoth. It was the month of June, but the 
snow had not disappeared and nothing could be accomplished. 
A second visit several weeks later was more successful. In 
the interval the party embarked on the steamer which makes 
one or two journeys every summer to the Arctic Ocean in 
search of fish, furs, and ivory. A vigorous traffic is main- 
tained during the short period that the river remains open. 

On the return from the Arctic Ocean, the season was more 
favorable to mammoth-hunting. Unfortunately the remains 
were not perfect. The skeleton was a good deal broken and 
scattered, and some parts were altogether lacking. The 
chief object of the enterprise was to obtain the stomach of 
the mammoth so that its contents could be analyzed. It is 



486 A LONG SLEEP. 

known that the beast lived upon vegetable food, but no one 
has yet ascertained its exact character. Some contend that 
the mammoth was a native of the tropics, and his presence 
in the north is due to the action of an earthquake. Others 
think he dwelt in the Arctic regions, and never belonged in 
the tropics. 

" If we had found his stomach," said the doctor, " and as- 
certained what kind of trees were in it, this question would 
have been decided. We could determine his residence from 
the character of his food." 

Though making diligent search the doctor found no trace 
of the stomach, and the great point is still open to dispute. 
He brought away the under jaw of the beast, and a quantity 
of skin and hair. The skin was half an inch thick, and as 
dry and hard as a piece of sole leather. The hair was like 
fine long bristles, and of a reddish brown color. From the 
quantity obtained it is thought the animal was pretty well 
protected against ordinary weather. The doctor gave me a 
cigar tube which a Samoyede fabricated from a small bone of 
the mammoth. He estimated that the beast had been frozen 
about ten thousand years in the bank where he found him, 
and that his natural dwelling place was in the north. The 
country was evidently much warmer when the mammoth 
roamed over it than now, and there is a belief that some con- 
vulsion of the earth, followed by a lowering of the tempera- 
ture, sealed the remains of the huge beasts in the spots where 
they are now discovered. 

In the year 1799 a bank of frozen earth near the mouth of 
the Lina, in Latitude 77° broke away and revealed the body 
of a mammoth. Hair, skin, flesh and all, had been com- 
pletely preserved by the frost. In 1806 a scientific commis- 
sion visited the spot, but the lapse of seven years proved of 
serious consequence. There had been a famine in the sur- 
rounding region, and the natives did not scruple to feed their 
dogs from the store of flesh which nature had preserved. Not 
supposing the emperor desired the bones of the beast they 
carried away such as they fancied. The teeth of the bears. 



ANCIENT RELICS. 487 

wolves, and foxes were worse than the tooth of Time, and 
finished all edible substance the natives did not take. Only 
the skeleton remained, and of this several bones were gone. 
All that could be found was taken, and is now in the Impe- 
rial collection at St. Petersburg. 

The remains of the mammoth show that the beast was 
closely akin to the elephant, but had a longer and more com- 
pressed skull, and wore his tusks in a different manner. 
Tusks have been found* more than nine feet long, and I am 
told that one discovered some years ago, exceeds ten feet in 
length. The skull from the Lena mammoth weighed four 
hundred and some odd pounds. Others have been found 
much larger. The mammoth was evidently an animal that 
commanded the respect of the elephant, and other small fry 
quadrupeds. 

Bones of the rhinoceros and hippopotamus abound in North- 
ern Siberia, and like those of the mammoth are found in 
the frozen earth. In the last century the body of a rhinoc- 
eros of an extinct species was found on the river Yilouy, a 
tributary of the Lena. In the museum at St. Petersburg 
there is a head of the Arctic rhinoceros on which the skin 
and tendons remain, and a foot of the same animal displays 
a portion of its hair. The claws of an enormous bird are 
also found in the north, some of them three feet long, and 
jointed through their whole length like the claws of an ostrich. 

Captain Wrangell and other explorers say the mammoth 
bones are smaller on the Arctic islands than on the main 
land, but are wonderfully increased in quantity. For many 
years the natives and fur traders have brought away large 
cargoes, but the supply is not yet exhausted. The teeth and 
tusks on the islands are more fresh and white than those of 
the Continent. On the Lachoff Islands the principal deposit 
was on a low sand bank, and the natives declared that when 
the waves receded after an easterly wind, a fresh supply was 
always found. One island about latitude 80° was said to be 
largely composed of mammoth bones. I presume this state- 
ment should be received with a little caution. 



488 CAST AWAY IN THE AECTIC OCEAN. 

During the doctor's expedition the supply of provisions 
was not always abundant, but there was no absolute scarcity. 
The party lived for some time on fish, and on the flesh of the 
reindeer. A story was told that the explorers were reduced 
to subsisting on the mammoth they discovered, and hence 
their failure to bring away portions of the flesh. Mammoth 
cutlets and soup were occasionally proposed for the enter- 
tainment of the savants on their return to Irkutsk. 

One of my acquaintances had a narrow escape from death 
on the ice during an expedition toward Kotelnoi Island, and 
the chain lying to the east of it, generally known as New Si- 
beria. It was early in the spring — somewhat later than the 
time of the ordinary winter journeys — that he set out from the 
mouth of the Lena, hoping to reach Kotelnoi Island, and return 
before the weather became warm. He had four dog teams, 
and was accompanied by a Russian servant and two Yakut 
natives, whom he engaged for a voyage down the Lena, and 
the expedition across the ice. It was known that a quantity 
of ivory had been gathered on the island, and was waiting 
for transportation to the Lena ; to get this ivory was the object 
of the journey. I will tell the story in the words of the nar- 
rator, or as nearly as I can do so from recollection. 

" We reached the island without serious trouble ; the 
weather was clear and cold, and the traveling quite as good 
as we expected. Where the ice was level we got along very 
well, though there were now and then deep fissures caused by 
the frost, and which we had some difficulty in crossing. Fre- 
quently we were obliged to detach the dogs from the sleds 
and compel them to jump singly across the fissures. The 
sledges were then drawn over by hand, and once on the other 
side the teams were re-harnessed, and proceeded on their 
way. The ice was seven or eight feet thick, and some of the 
fissures were a yard wide at the surface, and tapered to a 
wedge shape at the bottom. It was not absolutely dangerous, 
though very inconvenient to fall into one of the crevices, and 
our dogs were very careful to secure a good foothold on the 
edges where they jumped. 



CAST AWAY IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, 



489 



" The second day out we got among a great many hum- 
mocks, or detached pieces of bergs, that caused us much 




DOGS AMONG ICE. 



trouble. They were so numerous that we were often shut out 
from the horizon, and were guided solely by the compass. 
Frequently we found them so thick that it was impossible to 
break a road through them, and after working for an hour or 
two, we would be compelled to retrace our steps, and endeav- 
or to find a new route. Where they formed in ridges, and 
were not too high, we broke them down with our ice-hatchets ; 
the work was very exhausting to us, and so was the task of 
drawing the sledges to the poor dogs. 

" Just as we left the level ice, and came among these hum- 
mocks, the dogs came on the fresh track of a polar bear, and 
at once starred to follow him. My team was ahead, and the 
dogs set out in full chase, too rapidly for me to stop them, 
though I made every effort to do so. The other teams fol- 
lowed close upon us, and very soon my sledge overturned, and 
the dogs became greatly mixed up. The team of Nicolai, 
my servant, was likewise upset close to mine, and we had 
much trouble to get them right again. Ivan and Paul, the 



490 A POLAR BEAR FIGHT. 

two Yakuts, came up and assisted us. Their dogs following 
on our track had not caught the scent of the bear so readily 
as ours, and consequently were more easily brought to a stop. 

" We set the sledges right, and when we were ready to 
start, the sharp eyes of Ivan discovered the bear looking at 
us from behind a hummock, and evidently debating in his 
mind whether to attack us or not. Leaving the teams in 
charge of Paul, I started with Nicolai and Ivan to endeavor 
to kill the bear. Nicolai and myself were armed with rifles, 
while Ivan carried a knife and an ice-hatchet. 

" The bear stood very patiently as we approached ; he was 
evidently unaccustomed to human visitors, and did not un- 
derstand what we were about. The hummock where he 
stood was not very steep, and I thought it best to get a posi- 
tion a little above him for better safety, in case we had a 
sharp fight after firing our first shot. We took our stand on 
a little projection of ice a few feet higher than where he was, 
and about thirty paces distant ; I arranged that Nicolai should 
fire first, as I was a better shot than he, and it would be best 
for me to have the reserve. Nicolai fired, aiming at the bear's 
heart, which was well protected, as we knew, by a thick hide 
and a heavy mass of flesh. 

" The shot was not fatal. The bear gave a roar of pain, 
and sprang toward us. I waited until he placed his huge 
fore paws over the edge of the little ridge where we stood, 
and exposed his throat and chest. He was not more than 
ten feet away, and I buried the bullet exactly where I wished. 
But, notwithstanding both our shots, the animal was not 
killed, but lifted himself easily above the shelf, and sprang 
toward us. 

" We retreated higher up to another shelf, and as the bear 
attempted to climb it, Nicolai struck him with the butt of his 
rifle, which the beast warded off with his paw, and sent whirl- 
ing into the snow. But at the same instant Ivan took his 
opportunity to deal an effective blow with his ice-hatchet, 
which he buried in the skull of the animal, fairly penetrat- 
ing his brain. The blow accomplished what our shots had 



BREAKING UP OF THE ICE. 491 

not. Bruin fell back, and after a few convulsive struggles, 
lay dead at our feet. 

" We hastened back to the teams, and brought them for- 
ward. We were not absent more than twenty minutes, but 
by the time we returned several Arctic foxes had made their 
appearance, and were snuffing the air, preparatory to a feast. 
We drove them off, and very soon the dogs were enjoying a 
meal of fresh meat, that we threw to them immediately on 
removing the skin of the bear, which the Yakuts accom- 
plished with great alacrity. The beast was old and tough, 
so that most of his flesh went to the dogs, part of it being 
eaten on the spot, while the rest was packed on the sledges 
for future use. 

" We had no other incidents of importance until our return 
from the island. The weather suddenly became cloudy, and 
a warm wind set in from the southward. The snow softened 
so that the dogs could with difficulty draw the sledges, even 
when relieved of our weight. We walked by their side, en- 
couraging them in every possible way, and as the softness of 
the snow increased, it became necessary to throw away a part 
of the loads. Our safety required that we should reach the 
land as soon as possible, since there were many indications 
that the ice was about to break up. After sixteen hours of 
continuous dragging, we stopped, quite exhausted, though 
still thirty miles from land, as it was absolutely impossible for 
men or dogs to proceed further without rest. I was so utter- 
ly worn out that I sank upon the snow, hardly able to move. 
The Yakuts fed the dogs, and then lay down at their side, 
anxiously waiting the morning to bring us relief. 

"Just as the day was opening, I was awakened by a rum- 
bling noise, and a motion below me, followed by a shout from 
Ivan. 

" ' The ice is breaking up !' 

" I sprang to my feet, and so did my companions. The 
dogs were no less sensible of their danger than ourselves, and 
stirred uneasily while giving vent to plaintive whines. The 
wind from the south had increased ; it was blowing directly 



492 



BREAKING UP OF THE ICE. 



off the land, and I could see that the ice was cracking here 
and there under its influence, and the whole field was in mo- 
tion. Dark lanes appeared, and continued to increase in 
width, besides growing every minute more numerous. I 
ordered all the loads thrown from the sledges, with the ex- 
ception of a day's provisions for men and dogs, and a few of 
our extra garments. When this was done — and it was done 
very speedily — we started for the shore. 




JUMPING THE FISSURES. 



" We jumped the clogs over the smaller crevices without 
serious accident, but the larger ones gave us a great deal of 
trouble. On reaching them, Ave skirted along their edges till 
we could find a cake of ice large enough to ferry us over. In 
this way we crossed more than twenty openings, some of them, 
a hundred yards in width. Do not suppose we did so with- 
out being thrown several times in the water, and on one oc- 
casion four of the dogs were drowned. The poor brutes be- 
came tangled in their harness, and it was impossible to ex- 
tricate them. All the clogs seemed to be fully aware of their 
danger, and to understand that their greatest safety lay in 
their obeying us. I never saw them more obedient, and they 
rarely hesitated to do what we commanded. It grieved me 



FROZE TO THE ICE. 493 

greatly to see the dogs drowning when we were unable to help 
them, but could only listen to their cries for help, until stifled 
by the water. 

" We toiled all day, and night found us five miles from 
shore, with a strip of open water between us and land. 
Here and there were floating cakes of ice, but the main body 
had been blown off by the wind and promised to be a mile or 
two further to the north before morning. 

" I determined to wait for daylight, and then endeavor to 
reach the shore on cakes of ice. The attempt would be fall 
of danger, but there was nothing else to be done. Reluct- 
antly I proposed abandoning the dogs, but my companions 
appealed to me to keep them with us, as they had already 
saved our lives, and it would be the basest ingratitude to de- 
sert them. I did not require a second appeal, and promised 
that whatever we did, the dogs should go with us if possible. 

" Imagine the horror of that night ! We divided the little 
food that remained, men and dogs sharing alike, and tried to 
rest upon the ice. We had no means of making a fire, our 
clothing was soaked with water, and, during the night, the 
wind shifted suddenly to the northward and became cold. I 
was lying down, and fell asleep from utter exhaustion ; though 
the cold was severe, I did not think it dangerous, and felt 
quite unable to exercise to keep warm. The Yakuts, with 
Nicolai, huddled among the dogs, and were less wearied than 
I. When they shouted to me at daybreak, I slowly opened 
my eyes, and found that I could not move. I was frozen 
fast to the ice ! 

" Had I been alone there would have been no escape. My 
companions came to my relief, but it was with much difficulty 
that they freed me from my unpleasant situation. When we 
looked about, we found that our circumstances had greatly 
changed during the night. The wind had ceased, and the 
frost had formed fresh ice over the space where there was 
open water the day before. It was out of the question to 
ferry to land, and our only hope lay in driving the sledges 
over the new ice. I ordered the teams to be made ready, and 



494 



DROWNED NEAR THE SHORE. 



to keep several hundred yards apart, so as to make as little 
weight as possible on one spot. I took one sledge, Nicolai 
another, and the Yakuts the third. Our fourth sledge was 
lost at the time of our accident the day before. 




'HIE TEAM. 



" Our plan was to drive at full speed, to lessen the danger 
of breaking through. Once through the ice, there would have 
been no hope for us. We urged the dogs forward with loud 
cries, and they responded to our wishes by exerting all their 
strength. We went forward at a gallop. I reached the shore 
in safety, and so did Nicolai, but not so the poor Yakuts. 

" When within a mile of the land I heard a cry. I well 
knew what it meant, but I could give no assistance, as a 
moment's pause would have seen me breaking through our 
frail support. I did not even dare to look around, but con- 
tinued shouting to the dogs to carry them to land. Once there, 
I wiped the perspiration from my face, and ventured to look 
over the track where I came. 

" The weight of the two men upon one sledge had crushed 
the ice, and men, dogs and sledge had fallen into the water. 
Unable to serve them in the least, we watched till their strug- 
gles were ended, and then turned sorrowfully away. The ice 
closed over them, and the bed of the Arctic Ocean became 
their grave." 



CHAPTER XLII. 

IN the morning after our departure from Krasnoyarsk we 
reached a third station, and experienced no delay in 
changing horses. The road greatly improved, but we made 
slow progress. When we were about two versts from the 
station one of our horses left the sleigh and bolted homeward. 
The yemshick went in pursuit, but did not overtake the run- 
away till he reached the station. During his absence we sat 
patiently, or rather impatiently, in our furs, and I improved 
the opportunity to go to sleep. 

When we were properly reconstructed we moved forward, 
with my equipage in the rear. The mammoth sleigh went at 
a disreputably low speed. I endeavored to persuade our yem- 
shick to take the lead, but he refused, on the ground that the 
smotretal would not permit it. Added to this, he stopped 
frequently to make pretended arrangements of the harness, 
where he imagined it out of order. To finish my irritation 
at his manoeuvres,' he proposed to change with a yemshick he 
met about half way on his route. This would bring each to 
his own station at the end of the drive, and save a return 
trip. The man had been so dilatory and obstinate that I 
concluded to take my opportunity, and stubbornly refused 
permission for the change. This so enraged him that he 
drove very creditably for the rest of the way. 

" Both of them Jews," he said to the attendants at the sta- 
tion when we arrived. His theory as to our character was 
something like this. Of the male travelers in Siberia there 
are practically but two classes — officers and merchants. We 
could not be officers, as we wore no uniform ; therefore we 

(495) 



496 PRISONS FOR EXILES. 

were merchants. The trading class in Siberia comprises 
Russians of pure blood and Jews, the former speaking only 
their own language and never using any other. As the yem- 
shick did not understand our conversation, he at once set us 
down as Israelites in whom there was any quantity of guile. 

We breakfasted on pilmania, bread, and tea while the 
horses were being changed, and I managed to increase our 
bill of fare with some boiled eggs. The continual jolting 
and the excessive cold gave me a good appetite and excellent 
digestion. Our food was plain and not served as at Delmon- 
ico's, but I always found it palatable. "We stopped twice a 
day for meals, and the long interval between dinner time and 
breakfast generally made me ravenously hungry by morning. 
The village where the obstinate yemshick left us, had a bad 
reputation on the scale of honesty, but we suffered no loss 
there. At another village said to contain thieves, we did not 
leave the sleigh. . , 

About noon we met a convoy of exiles moving slowly along 
the snowy road. The prisoners were walking in double col- 
umn, but without regularity and not attempting to ' keep 
step.' Two soldiers with muskets and fixed bayonets march- 
ed in front and two others brought up the rear. There were 
thirty or more prisoners, all clad in sheepskin garments, their 
heads covered with Russian hoods, and their hands thrust 
into heavy mittens. Behind the column there were four or 
five sleighs containing baggage and foot-sore prisoners, half 
a dozen soldiers, and two women. The extreme rear was 
finished by two soldiers, with muskets and fixed bayonets, 
riding on an open sledge. The rate of progress was regulat- 
ed by the soldiers at the head of the column. Most of the 
prisoners eyed us as we drove past, but there were several 
who did not look up. 

At nearly every village there is an ostrog, or prison, for the 
accommodation of exiles. It is a building, or several build- 
ings, enclosed with a palisade or other high fence. Inside 
its strong gate one cannot easily escape, and I believe the 
attempt is rarely made. Generally the rooms or buildings 



TEEATMENT OF EXILES. 497 

nearest the gate are the residences of the officers and guards, 
the prisoners being lodged as far as possible from the point 
of egress. The distance from one station to the next varies 
according to the location of the villages, but is usually about 
twenty versts. Generally the ostrog is outside the village, 
but not far away. The people throughout Siberia display un- 
varying kindness to exiles on their march. When a convoy 
reaches a village the inhabitants bring whatever they can 
spare, whether of food or money, and either deliver it to the 
prisoners in the street or carry it to the ostrog. Many peas- 
ants plant little patches of turnips and beets, where runaway 
prisoners may help themselves at night without danger of 
interference if discovered by the owner. 

In every party of exiles, each man takes his turn for a day 
in asking and receiving charity, the proceeds being for the 
common good. In front of my quarters in Irkutsk a party 
of prisoners were engaged several days in setting posts. 
One of the number accosted every passer by, and when he 
received any thing the prisoners near him echoed his ' thank 
you.' Many couples were engaged, under guard, in carrying 
water from the river to the prison. One man of each couple 
solicited ' tobacco money ' for both. The soldiers make no 
objection to charity toward prisoners. I frequently observed 
that when any person approached with the evident intention 
of giving something to the water carriers, the guards halted 
to facilitate the donation. 

Very often on my sleigh ride I met convoys of exiles. On 
one occasion as we were passing an ostrog the gate suddenly 
opened, and a dozen sleighs laden with prisoners emerged 
and drove rapidly to the eastward. Five-sixths of the exiles 
I met on the road were riding, and did not appear to suffer 
from cold. They were well wrapped in sheepskin clothing, 
and seated, generally three together, in the ordinary sleighs 
of the country. Formerly most exiles walked the entire dis- 
tance from Moscow to their destination, but of late years it 
has been found better economy to allow them to ride. Only 
certain classes of criminals are now required to go on foot. 
32 



498 A LARGE CONVOY. 

All other offenders, including ' politiques,' are transported in 
vehicles at government expense. Any woman can accom- 
pany or follow her husband into exile. 

Those on foot go from one station to the next for a day's 
march. They travel two days and rest one, and unless for 
special reasons, are not required to break the Sabbath. Med- 
ical officers are stationed in the principal towns, to look after 
the sanitary condition of the emigrants. The object being 
to people the country, the government takes every reasonable 
care that the exiles do not suffer in health while on the road. 
Of course those that ride do not require as much rest as the 
pedestrians. They usually stop at night at the ostrogs, and 
travel about twelve or fourteen hours a day. Distinguished 
offenders, such as the higher class of revolutionists, officers 
convicted of plotting against the state or robbing the Treas- 
ury, are generally rushed forward night and day. To keep 
him secure from escape, an exile of this class is sometimes 
chained to a soldier who rides at his side. 

One night, between Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk, I was awak- 
ened by an unusual motion of the sleigh. We were at the 
roadside passing a column of men who marched slowly in 
our direction. As I lifted our curtain and saw the undulat- 
ing line of dark forms moving silently in the dim starlight, 
and brought into relief against the snow hills, the scene ap- 
peared something more than terrestrial. I thought of the 
array of spectres that beleaguered the walls of Prague, if we 
may trust the Bohemian legend, and of the shadowy battal- 
ions described by the old poets of Norseland, in the days when 
fairies dwelt in fountains, and each valley was the abode of 
a good or evil spirit. But my fancies were cut short by my 
companion briefly informing me that we were passing a con- 
voy of prisoners recently ordered from Irkutsk to Yeneseisk. 
It was the largest convoy I saw during my journey, and in- 
cluded, as I thought, not less than two hundred men. 

In the afternoon of the first day from Krasnoyarsk we 
reached Achinsk, a town of two or three thousand inhabit- 
ants, on the bank of the Chulim river. We were told the 



• THE RUSSIAN DRIVER AND HORSES. 499 

road was so bad as to require four horses to each sleigh to 
the next station. We consented to pay for a horse additional 
to the three demanded by our padaroshnia, and were carried 
along at very good speed. Part of the way was upon the ice, 
which had formed during a wind, that left disagreeable ridges. 
We picked out the best places, and had not our horses slipped 
occasionally, the icy road would not have been unpleasant. 
On the bare ground which we traversed in occasional patches 
after leaving the river, the horses behaved admirably and 
made little discrimination between sand and snow. When- 
ever they lagged the yemshick lashed them into activity. 

I observed in Siberia that whip cracking is not fashionable. 
The long, slender, snapping whips of Western Europe and 
America are unknown. The Siberian uses a short stock with 
a lash of hemp, leather, or other flexible substance, but never 
dreams of a snapper at its end. Its only use is for whipping 
purposes, and a practiced yemshick can do much with it in a 
short time. 

The Russian drivers talk a great deal to their horses, and 
the speech they use depends much upon the character and 
performance of the animals. If the horse travels well he 
may be called the dove or brother of his driver, and assured 
that there is abundance of excellent hay awaiting him at 
home. Sometimes a neat hint is given that he is drawing a 
nice gentleman who will be liberal and enable the horse to 
have an extra feed. Sometimes the man rattles off his words 
as if the brute understood everything said to him. An ob- 
stinate or lazy horse is called a variety of names the reverse 
of endearing. I have heard him addressed as ' sabakaf 
(dog) ; and on frequent occasions his maternity was ascribed 
to the canine race in epithets quite disrespectful. Horses 
came in for an amount of profanity about like that showered 
upon army mules in America. It used to look a little out of 
place to see a yemshick who had shouted chort! and other 
unrefined expressions to his team, devoutly crossing himself 
before a holy picture as soon as his beasts were unharnessed. 

A few versts from Achinsk we crossed the boundary be- 



500 CATARACTS IN SIBERIA. 

tween Eastern and Western Siberia. The Chulirn is naviga- 
ble up to Achinsk;' and during the past two years steamers 
have been running between this town and Tomsk. The basin 
of the Ob contains nearly as many navigable streams as that 
of the Mississippi, and were it not for the severity of the cli- 
mate, the long winter, and the northerly course of the great 
river, this valley might easily develop much wealth. But 
nature is unfavorable, and man is powerless to. change her 
laws. 

On changing at the station we again took four Jiorses to 
each sleigh 5 and were glad we did so. The ground was more 
bare as we proceeded, and obliged us to leave the high road 
altogether and seek a track wherever it could be found. 
While we were dashing through a mass of rocks and stumps 
one of our horses fell dead, and brought us to a sudden halt. 
In his fall he became entangled with the others, and it re- 
quired some minutes to set matters right. The yemshick 
felt for the pulse of the beast until fully satisfied that no 
pulse existed. Happily we were not far from a station, so that 
the reduction of our team was of no serious consequence. 
In this region I observed cribs like roofless log houses placed 
near the roadside at intervals of a few hundred yards. They 
were intended to hold materials for repairing the road. 

On the upper waters of the Chulim there is a cascade of 
considerable beauty, according to the statement of some who 
never saw it. A few years ago a Siberian gold miner dis- 
covered a cataract on the river Hook, in the Irkutsk govern- 
ment, that he thought equal to Niagara, and engaged an art- 
ist to make a drawing of the curiosity. On reaching the 
spot, the latter individual found the cascade a very small af- 
fair. Throughout Russia, Niagara is considered one of the 
great wonders of the world, and nothing could have been 
more pleasing to the Siberians than to find its rival in their 
own country. 

When I first began traveling in Siberia a gentleman one 
day expressed the hope of seeing America before long, but 
added, " much pleasure of my visit will be lacking now that 



AGREEABLE SENSATIONS. 501 

you have lost Niagara." I could not understand him, and 
asked an explanation. 

" Why," said he, " since Niagara has been worn away to a 
continuous rapid it must have lost all its grandeur and sublim- 
ity. I shall go there, but I cannot enjoy it as I should have 
enjoyed the great cataract." 

I explained that Niagara was as perfect as ever, and had 
no indication of wearing itself away. It appeared that some 
Russian newspaper, misled, I presume, by the fall of Table 
Rock, announced that the whole precipice had broken down 
and left a long rapid in place of the cataract. Several times 
during my journey I was called upon to correct this impres- 
sion. 

At the third station beyond Achinsk we found a neat and 
well kept room for travelers. We concluded to dine there, 
and were waited upon by a comely young woman whose coif- 
fure showed that she was unmarried. She brought us the 
samovar, cooked our pilmania, and boiled a dizaine of eggs. 
Among the Russians articles which we count by the dozen 
are enumerated by tens. " Skolka stoit, yieetsa?" (How 
much do eggs cost), was generally answered, " Petnatzet ea- 
pecka, decetu" (fifteen copecks for ten.) Only among the 
Western nations one finds the dozen in use. 

While we were at dinner the cold sensibly increased, and 
on exposing my thermometer 1 found it marking -18° Fahren- 
heit. Schmidt wrapped himself in all his furs, and I follow- 
ed his example. Thus enveloped we filled the entire breadth 
of our sleigh and could not turn over with facility. A sharp 
wind was blowing dead ahead, and we closed the front of the 
vehicle to exclude it. The snow whirled in little eddies and 
made its way through the crevices at the junction of our 
sleigh-boot with the hood. I wrapped a blanket in front of 
my face for special protection, and soon managed to fall 
asleep. The sleigh poising on a runner and out-rigger, caus- 
ed the doctor to roll against me during the first hour of my 
slumber, and made me dream that I was run over by a loco- 
motive. When I waked I found my breath had congealed 



502 ARRIVAL AT TOMSK. 

and frozen my beard to the blanket. It required careful 
manipulation to separate the two without injury to either. 

When we stopped to change horses after this experience, 
the stars were sparkling with a brilliancy peculiar to the 
Northern sky. The clear starlight, unaided by the moon, 
enabled us to see with great distinctness. I could discover 
the outline of the forest away beyond the village, and trace 
the road to the edge of a valley where it disappeared. Every 
individual star appeared endeavoring to outshine his rivals, 
and cast his rays to the greatest distance. Testa, Sirius, and 
many others burned with a brightness that recalled my first 
view of the Drummond light, and seemed to dazzle my eyes 
when I fixed my gaze upon them. 

The road during the night was rough but respectable, and 
we managed to enjoy a fair amount of slumber in our con- 
tracted chambre a deux. Before daylight we reached a station 
where a traveling bishop had just secured two sets of horses. 
Though outside the jurisdiction of General KorsackofF, I ex- 
hibited my special passport knowing it could not, at all events, 
do any harm. Out of courtesy the smotretal offered to sup- 
ply us as soon as the bishop departed. The reverend worthy 
was dilatory in starting, and as we were likely to be delayed 
an horn* or two, we economized the time by taking tea. I 
found opportunity for a short nap after our tea-drinking was 
over, and only awoke when the smotretal announced, "loshady 
g atone d" 

In the forenoon we entered upon the steppe where trees were 
few and greatly scattered. Frequently the vision over this 
Siberian prairie was uninterrupted for several miles. There 
was a thin covering of snow on the open ground, and the 
dead grass peered above the surface with a suggestion of 
summer fertility. 

Shortly after noon I looked through the eddies of snow that 
whirled in the frosty air, and distinguished the outline of a 
church. Another and another followed, and very soon the 
roofs and walls of the more prominent buildings in Tomsk 
were visible. As we entered the eastern gate of the city, 



SECUEITT FOE HOTEL BILLS. 503 

and passed a capacious powder-magazine, our yemshick tied 
up his bell-tongues in obedience to the municipal law. Our 
arrival inside the city limits was marked by the most respect- 
ful silence. 

We named a certain hotel but the yemshick coolly took us 
to another which he assured us was " acleechny " (excellent). 
As the exterior and the appearance of the servants promised 
fairly, we made no objection, and allowed our baggage un- 
loaded. The last I saw of our yemshick he was receiving a 
subsidy from the landlord in consideration of having taken 
us thither. The doctor said the establishment was better 
than the one he first proposed to patronize, so that we had no 
serious complaint against the management of the affair. 
Hotel keepers in Siberia are obliged to pay a commission to 
whoever brings them patrons, a practice not unknown, I be- 
lieve, in American cities. 

We engaged two rooms, one large, and. the other of me- 
dium size. The larger apartment contained two sofas, ten 
or twelve chairs, three tables, a boy, a bedstead, and a cham- 
ber-maid. The boy and the maid disappeared with a quart 
or so of dirt they had swept from the floor. We ordered 
dinner, and took our ease in our inn. Our baggage piled in 
one corner of the room would have made a creditable stock 
for an operator in the " Elbow Market " at Moscow. We 
thawed our beards, washed, changed our clothing, and pre- 
tended we felt none the worse for our jolting over the rough 
road from Krasnoyarsk. 

The hotel, though Asiatic, was kept on the European plan. 
The landlord demanded our passports before we removed our 
outer garments, and apologized by saying the regulations 
were very strict. The documents went at once to the police, 
and returned in the morning with the visa of the chief. 
Throughout Russia a hotel proprietor generally keeps the pass- 
ports of his patrons until their bills are paid, but this land- 
lord trusted in our honor, and returned the papers at once. 
The visa certified there were no charges against us, pecuniary 
or otherwise, and allowed us to remain or depart at our pleas- 



504 VISIT THE VICE-GO VEKNOK. 

ure. It is a Russian custom for the police to be informed of 
claims against persons suspected of intent to run away. The 
individual cannot obtain authority to depart until his accounts 
are settled. Formerly the law required every person, native 
and foreign, about to leave Russia, to advertise his intention 
through a newspaper. This formula is now dispensed with, 
but the intending traveler must produce a receipt in full from 
his hotel keeper. 

At the hotel we found a gentleman from Eastern Siberia 
on his way to St. Petersburg. He left Irkutsk two days be- 
hind me, passed us in Krasnoyarsk, and came to grief in a 
partial overturn five miles from Tomsk. He was waiting to 
have his broken vehicle thoroughly repaired before venturing 
on the steppe. He had a single vashok in which he stowed 
himself, wife, three children, and a governess. How the 
whole party could be packed into the carriage I was at a loss 
to imagine. Its limits must have been suggestive of the close 
quarters of a can of sardines. 

We used our furs for bed clothing and slept on the sofas, 
less comfortably I must confess than in the sleigh. The close 
atmosphere of a Russian house is not as agreeable to my 
lungs as the open air, and after a long journey one's first 
night in a warm room is not refreshing. There was no pub- 
lic table at the hotel ; meals were served in our room, and 
each item was charged separately at prices about like those 
of Irkutsk. 

In the morning we put on our best clothes, and visited the 
gubernatorial mansion. The governor was at St. Petersburg, 
and we were received by the Vice-Governor, an amiable gen- 
tleman of about fifty years, who reminded me of General S. 
R. Curtis. Before our interview we waited ten or fifteen 
minutes at one end of a large hall. The Vice-Governor was 
at the other end listening to a woman whose streaming eyes 
and choked utterance showed that her story was one of grief. 
The kind hearted man appeared endeavoring to soothe her. 
I could not help hearing the conversation though ignorant of 



LOCATION OF TOMSK. 505 

its purport, and, as the scene closed, I thought I had not 
known before the extent of pathos in the Russian language. 

We had a pleasant interview with the vice-governor who 
gave us passports to Barnaool, on learning that we wished to 
visit that place. Among those who called during our stay 
was the golovah of Tomsk, a man whose physical proportions 
resembled those of the renowned Wouter Van Twiller, as 
described by Washington Irving. Every golovah I met in 
Siberia was of aldermanic proportions, and I wondered 
whether physical developments had any influence in selections 
for this office. Just before leaving the governor's residence, 
we were introduced to Mr. Naschinsky, of Barnaool, to whom 
I had a letter of introduction from his cousin, Paul Anossoff. 
As he was to start for home that evening, we arranged to ac- 
company him. Our visit ended, we drove through the prin- 
cipal streets, and saw the chief features of the town. 

Tomsk takes its name from the river Tom, on whose banks 
it is built. It stands on the edge of the great Baraba steppe, 
and has about twenty thousand inhabitants of the usual varied 
character of a Russian population. I saw many fine houses, 
and was told that in society and wealth the city was little 
inferior to Irkutsk. Here, as at other places* large fortunes 
have been made in gold mining. Several heavy capitalists 
were mentioned as owners of concessions in the mining dis- 
tricts. Many of their laborers passed the winter at Tomsk 
in the delights of urban life. The city is of considerable im- 
portance as it controls much of the commerce of Siberia. 
The site is picturesque, being partly on the low ground next 
the river, and partly on the hills above it. In contemplating 
the location, I was reminded of Quebec. I found much activ- 
ity in the streets and market places, and good assortments of 
merchandise in the shops. 

Near our hotel, over a wide ravine, was a bridge, constant- 
ly traversed by vehicles and pedestrians, and lighted at night 
by a double row of lamps. Some long buildings near the 
river, and just outside the principal market had a likeness to 
American railway stations, and the quantities of goods piled 



506 PROPOSED WATER ROUTE. 

on their verandas aided the illusion. About noon the mar- 
ketplace was densely crowded, and there appeared a brisk 
traffic in progress. There was a liberal array of articles to 
eat, wear, or use, with a very fair quantity for which no use 
could be imagined. 

In summer there is a waterway from Tomsk to Tumen, a 
thousand miles to the westward, and a large amount of freight 
to and from Siberia passes over it. Steamers descend the 
Tom to the Ob, which they follow to the Irtish. They then 
ascend the Irtish, the Tobol, and the Tura to Tumen, the head 
of navigation. The government proposes a railway between 
Perm and Tumen to unite the great water courses of Europe 
and Siberia. A railway from Tomsk to Irkutsk is among the 
things hoped for by the Siberians, and will be accomplished 
at some future day. The arguments urged against its con- 
struction are the length of the route, the sparseness of pop- 
ulation, and the cheap rates at which freight is now trans- 
ported. Probably Siberia would be no exception to the rule 
that railways create business, and sustain it, but I presume it 
will be many years before the locomotive has a permanent 
way through the country. 

Some years ago it was proposed to open a complete water 
route between Tumen and Kiachta. The most eastern point 
that a steamer could attain in the valley of the Ob is on the 
river Ket. A canal about thirty miles long would connect 
the Ket with the Yenesei, whence it was proposed to follow 
the Angara, Lake Baikal, and the Selenga to Oust Kiachta. 
But the swiftness of the Angara, and its numerous rapids, 
seventy-eight in all, stood in the way of the project. At pres- 
ent no steamers can ascend the Angara, and barges can only 
descend when the water is high. To make the channel safely 
navigable would require a heavy outlay of money for blasting 
rocks, and digging canals. I could not ascertain that there 
was any probability of the scheme being realized. 

In 1866 twelve steamers were running between Tumen and 
Tomsk. These boats draw about two feet of water, and tow 
one or more barges in which freight is piled. No merchan- 



EDUCATIONAL PRIVILEGES. 507 

dise is carried on the boats. Twelve days are consumed in 
the voyage with barges ; without them it can be made in a 
week. All the steamers yet constructed are for towing pur- 
poses, the passenger traffic not being worth attention. The 
golovah of Tomsk is a heavy owner in these steamboats, and 
he proposed increasing their number and enlarging his busi- 
ness. A line of smaller boats has been started to connect 
Tomsk with Achinsk. The introduction of steam on the 
Siberian rivers has given an impetus to commerce, and re- 
vealed the value of certain interests of the country. An ac- 
tive competition in the same direction would prove highly 
beneficial, and bye and bye they will have the railway. 

During my ride about the streets the isvoshchik pointed 
out a large building, and explained that it was the seminary 
or high school of Tomsk. I was told that the city, like 
Irkutsk, had a female school or "Institute," and an establish- 
ment for educating the children of the priests. The schools 
in the cities and large towns of Siberia have a good reputa- 
tion, and receive much praise from those who patronize them. 
The Institute at Irkutsk is especially renowned, and had dur- 
ing the winter of 1866 something more than a hundred board- 
ing pupils. The gymnasium or school for boys was equally 
flourishing, and under the direct control of the Superinten- 
dent of Public Instruction for Eastern Siberia. The branches 
of education comprise the ordinary studies of schools every- 
where — arithmetic, grammar, and geography, with reading 
and writing. When these elementary studies are mastered 
the higher mathematics, languages, music, and painting fol- 
low. In the primary course the prayers of the church and 
the manner of crossing one's self are considered essential. 

Most of those who can afford it employ private teachers 
for their children, and educate them at home. The large 
schools in the towns are patronized by the upper and middle 
classes, and sometimes pupils come from long distances. 
There are schools for the peasant children, but not sufficiently 
numerous to make education general. It is a lamentable fact 
that the peasants as a class do not appreciate the importance 



508 



GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS. 



of knowledge. Hitherto all these peasant schools have been 
controlled by the church, the subordinate priests being ap- 
pointed to their management. 

Quite recently the Emperor has ordered a system of public 
instruction throughout the empire. Schools are to be estab- 
lished, houses built, and teachers paid by the government. 
Education is to be taken entirely from the hands of the priests, 
and entrusted to the best qualified instructors without regard 
to race or religion. The common school house in the land 
of the czars ! Universal education among the subjects of the 
Autocrat ! Well may the other monarchies of Europe fear 
the growing power and intelligence of Russia. May God 
bless Alexander, and preserve him many years to the people 
whose prosperity he holds so dearly at heart. 




CHAPTER XLIII. 

"TTXHEN we left Tomsk in the evening, the snow was 
VV falling rapidly, and threatened to obliterate the 
track along the frozen surface of the river. There were no 
post horses at the station, and we were obliged to charter pri- 
vate teams at double the usual rates. The governor warned 
us that we might have trouble in securing horses, and re- 
quested us to refer to him if the smotretal did not honor our 
padarashnia. We did not wish to trespass further on his 
kindness, and concluded to submit to the extortion and say 
nothing. The station keeper owned the horses we hired, and 
we learned he was accustomed to declare his regular troikas 
" out " on all possible occasions. Of course, a traveler anx- 
ious to proceed, would not hesitate long at paying two or three 
roubles extra. 

We dashed over the rough ice of the Tom for a few versts 
and then found a road on solid earth. We intended to visit 
Barnaool, and for this purpose left the great road at the third 
station, and turned southward. The falling snow beat so 
rapidly into our sleigh that we closed the vehicle and ignored 
the outer world. Mr. Naschinsky started with us from Tomsk, 
but after a few stations he left us and hurried away at courier 
speed toward Barnaool. He proved an avant courier for us, 
and warned the station masters of our approach, so that we 
found horses ready. 

On this side road the contract requires but three troikas at 
a station. Three sleighs together were an unusual number, 
so that the smotretals generally obtained one or both our 
teams from the village. On the last half of the route the 

(509) 



510 DISAGREEABLE DISTANCES. 

yemshicks did not take us to the stations but to the houses 
of their friends where we promptly obtained horses at the 
regular rates. The peasants between Tomsk and Barnaool 
own many horses, and are pleased at the. opportunity to earn 
a little cash with them. 

Snow, darkness, and slumber prevented our seeing much 
of the road during the night. In the morning, I found we 
were traveling through an undulating and generally wooded 
country, occasionally crossing rivers and small lakes on the 
ice. The track was a wonderful improvement over that be- 
tween Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk. The stations or peasant 
houses where we changed horses, were not as good as those 
on the great road. The rooms were frequently small and 
heated to an uncomfortable degree. In one house, notwith- 
standing the great heat, several children were seated on the 
top of the stove, and apparently enjoying themselves. The 
yemshicks and attendants were less numerous than on the 
great road, but we could find no fault with their service. On 
one course of twenty versts our sleigh was driven by a boy 
of thirteen, though seemingly not more than ten. He han- 
dled the whip and reins with the skill of a veteran, and 
earned an extra gratuity from his passengers. 

The road was marked by upright poles ten or twelve feet 
high at distances of one or two hundred feet. There were 
distance posts with the usual black and white alternations, 
but the figures were generally indistinct, and many posts were 
altogether wanting. On the main road through the whole 
length of Siberia, there is a post at every verst, marking in 
large numbers the distance to the first station on either side 
of it. At the stations there are generally posts that show the 
distance to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and the provincial or 
' government ' capitals on either side. 

For a long time 1 could never rid myself of a sensation of 
'goneness' when I read the figures indicating the distance to 
St. Petersburg. Above seven thousand they were positively 
frightful ; between six and seven thousand, they were disa- 
greeable to say the least. Among the five thousand and odd 



UNCOMFORTABLE WEATHER. 511 

versts, I began to think matters improving, and when I de- 
scended below four thousand, I felt as if in my teens. The 
proverb says, " a watched pot never boils." I can testify that 
these distance figures diminished very slowly, and sometimes 
they seemed to remain nearly the same from day to day. 

The snow storm that began when we left Tomsk, contin- 
ued through the night and the following day. The air was 
warm, and there was little wind, so that our principal incon- 
venience was from the snow flakes in our faces, and the grad- 
ual filling of the road. Toward sunset a wind arose. Every 
hour it increased, and before midnight there was good pros- 
pect of our losing our way or being compelled to halt until 
daybreak. The snow whirled in thick masses through the 
air, and utterly blinded us when we attempted to look out. 
The road filled with drifts, and we had much difficulty in 
dragging through them. The greatest personal inconvenience 
was the sifting of snow through the crevices of our sleigh 
cover. At every halt we underwent a vigorous shaking to 
remove the superfluous snow from our furs. 

A storm with high winds in this region takes the name of 
hour an. It is analogous to the poorga of Northeastern Sibe- 
ria and Kamchatka, and may occur at any season of the 
year. 

Bourans are oftentimes very violent, especially in the open 
steppe. Any one who has experienced the norther of Texas, 
or the bora of Southern Austria, can form an idea of these 
Siberian storms. The worst are when the thermometer sinks 
to twenty-five degrees or more below zero, and the snow is 
dashed about with terrific fury. At such times they are 
almost insupportable, and the traveler who ventures to face 
them runs great risk of his life. Many persons have been 
lost in the winter storms, and all experienced voyagers are 
reluctant to brave their violence. In summer the wind spends 
its force on the earth and sand which it whirls in large clouds. 
A gentleman told me he had seen the dry bed of a river where 
there were two feet of sand, swept clean to the rock by the 
strength of the wind alone. 



512 FAST IN THE DRIFTS. 

A little past daylight the sleigh came to a sudden stop des- 
pite the efforts of all concerned. The last hundred versts of 
our ride we had four horses to each sleigh, and their united 
strength was not more than sufficient for our purpose. The 
drift where we stopped was at least three feet deep, and pretty 
closely packed. We, that is to say, the horses and yemshicks, 
made several efforts but could not carry the sleigh through. 
The mammoth sleigh came up and the two yemshicks trod a 
path through the worst part of the drift. The doctor and I 
descended from the vehicle, and assisted by looking on. The 
sleigh thus lightened, was dragged through the obstruction 
but unfortunately turned on its beam ends, and filled with 
snow before it could be righted. 

The bouran was from the south, and raised the tempera- 
ture above the freezing point. The increasing heat became 
uncomfortable after the cold I had experienced. The horses 
did not turn white from perspiration as in colder days, and 
the exertion of travel set them panting as in summer. The 
drivers carefully knotted their (the horses') tails to prevent 
them (the tails) from filling with snow, but the precaution 
was not entirely successful. The snow was of the right con- 
sistency for a school boy's frolic, and would have thrown a 
group of American urchins into ecstacies. Whenever our 
pace quickened to a trot or gallop, the larboard horse threw 
a great many snowballs with his feet. He seemed to aim at 
my face, and every few minutes I received what the prize 
ring would call ' plumpers in the peeper, and sockdolagers on 
the potato-trap.' 

We drove into Barnaool about forty-four hours after leav- 
ing Tomsk. At the hotel we found three rooms containing 
chairs and tables in profusion, but not a bed or sofa. Of 
course we were expected to supply our own bedding, and 
need not be particular about a bedstead. The worst part of 
the affair was the wet condition of our furs. My sheepskin 
sleigh robe was altogether too damp for use, and I sent it to 
be dried in the kitchen. Several of my fur garments went 
the same way. Even my shooba, which I carried in a bag, 



CENTER OP THE MINING DISTRICT. 513 

had a feeling of dampness when I unfolded it, and in fact the 
only dry things about us, were our throats. We set things 
drying as best we could, and then ordered dinner. Before 
our sleighs were unloaded, a policeman took our passports 
and saved us all trouble of going to the station. 

In the evening I accompanied Dr. Schmidt on a visit to a 
friend and fellow member of the Academy of Science. We 
found a party, of six or eight persons, and, as soon as I was 
introduced, a gentleman despatched a servant to his house. 
The man returned with a roll of sheet music from which our 
host's daughter favored us with the " Star Spangled Banner," 
and " Hail Columbia," as a greeting to the first American 
visitor to Barnaool. On our return to our lodgings we made 
our beds on the floor, and slept comfortably. The dampness 
of the furs developed a rheumatic pain in my shoulder that 
stiffened me somewhat inconveniently. 

We breakfasted upon cakes and tea at a late hour in the 
morning, and then went to pay our respects to General Freeze, 
the Nachalnik or Director of Mines, and to Colonel Filoff, 
chief of the smelting works. Both these officers were some- 
what past the middle age, quiet and affable, and each enjoyed 
himself in coloring a meerschaum. They have been engaged 
in mining matters during many years, and are said to be 
thoroughly versed in their profession. After visiting these 
gentlemen we called upon other official and civilian residents 
of the city. 

Barnaool is the center of direction of the mining enterprises 
of the Altai mountains, and has a population of ten or twelve 
thousand. Almost its entire business is in someway connected 
with mining affairs, and there are many engineer officers con- 
stantly stationed there. I met some of these gentlemen dur- 
ing my stay, and was indebted to them for information con- 
cerning the manner of working mines and reducing ores. 
The city contains a handsome array of public buildings, in- 
cluding the mining bureau, the hospital, and the zavod or 
smelting establishment. General Freeze, the Nachalnik, is 
director and chief, not only of the city but of the entire min- 
ing district of which Barnaool is the center. 
33 



514 PAY OF THE LABOEEES. 

The first discoveries of precious metals in the Altai regions 
were made by one of the Demidoffs who was sent there by 
Peter the Great. A monument in the public square at Bar- 
naool records his services, in ever during brass. I was shown 
an autograph letter from the Empress Elizabeth giving direc- 
tions to the Nachalnik who controlled the mines during her 
reign. The letter is kept in an ivory box on the table around 
which the mining board holds its sessions. The mines of 
this region are the personal property of the Emperor, and 
their revenues go directly to the crown. I was told that the 
government desires to sell or give these mines into private 
hands, in the belief that the resources of the country would 
be more thoroughly developed. The day before my depart- 
ure from Barnaool, I learned that my visit had reference to 
the possible purchase of the mining works by an American 
company. I hastened to assure my informant that I had no 
intention of buying the Altai mountains or any part of them. 

The Nachalnik visits all mines and smelting works in his 
district at least once a year, and is constantly in receipt of • 
detailed reports of operations in progress. His power is 
almost despotic, and like the governors of departments through- 
out all Siberia, he can manage affairs pretty much in his own 
way. There are no convict laborers in his district, the work- 
men at the mines and zavods being peasants subject to the 
orders of government. Each man in the district may be 
called upon to work for the Emperor at fixed wages of money 
and rations. I believe the daily pay of a laborer is some- 
what less than forty copecks. A compromise for saints days 
and other festivals is made by employing the men only two 
weeks out of three. Relays are so arranged as to make no 
stoppage of the Avorks except during the Christmas holidays. 

I saw many sheets of the geological map of the Altai re- 
gion, which has been a long time in preparation, and will re- 
quire several years to complete. Every mountain, hill, brook, 
and valley is laid down by careful surveyors, and when the 
map is finished it will be one of the finest and best in the 



SURVEY OF THE MINING DISTRICT. 515 

world. One corps is engaged in surveying and mapping 
while another explores and opens mines. 

When the snows are melted in the spring, and the floods 
have receeded from the streams, the exploring parties are sent 
into the mountains. Each officer has a particular valley as- 
signed him, and commands a well equipped body of men. 
He is expected to remain in the mountains until he has fin- 
ished his work, or until compelled to leave by the approach 
of winter. The party procures meat from gam,e of which 
there is nearly always an abundant supply. 

Holes are dug at regular intervals, on the system I have 
already described in the mines of the Yenesei. The rocks in 
and around the valley are carefully examined for traces of 
silver, and many specimens have been collected for the geolog- 
ical cabinet at Barnaool. Maps are made showing the local- 
ity of each test hole in the valley, and the spot whence every 
specimen of rock is obtained. On the return of the party its 
reports and specimens are delivered to the mining bureau. 
The ores go to the laboratory to be assayed, and the speci- 
mens of rock are carefully sorted and examined. 

Gold washings are conducted on the general plan of those 
in the Yeneseisk government, the details varying according 
to circumstances. A representation of the principal silver 
mine — somewhat on the plan of Barnum's " Niagara with 
Real Water" — was shown me in the museum. In general 
features the mines are not materially unlike silver mines else- 
where. There are shafts, adits, and levels just as in the mines 
of Colorado and California. The Russians give the name of 
priesk to a mine where gold is washed from the earth. The 
silver mine with its shafts in the solid rock is called a rood- 
nik. As before stated, the word zavod is applied to found- 
ries, smelting works, and manufactories in general. 

Colonel Filoff invited the doctor and myself to visit the 
zavod at Barnaool on the second day after our arrival. As 
he spoke no language with which I was familiar, the colonel 
placed me in charge of a young officer fluent in French, who 
took great pains to explain the modus operandi. The zavod 



516 



ZAVOD OR IRON FOUNDRY. 



is on a grand scale, and employs about six hundred laborers. 
It is enclosed in a large yard with high walls, and reminded 




IN THE MINE. 



me of a Pennsylvania iron foundry or the establishment just 
below Detroit. A sentry at the gate presented arms as we 
passed, and I observed that the rule of no admittance except 
on business was rigidly enforced. 

In the yard we were first taken to piles of ore which ap- 
peared to an unpracticed eye like heaps of old mortar and 
broken granite. These piles were near a stream which fur- 
nishes power for moving the machinery of the establishment. 
The ore was exposed to the air and snow, but the coal for 
smelting was carefully housed. There were many sheds for 
storage within easy distance of the furnaces. The latter 
were of brick with tall and substantial chimneys, and the 
outer walls that surrounded the whole were heavily and strong- 
ly built. 



SILVER SMELTING. 517 

Charcoal is burned in consequence of the cheapness and 
abundance of wood. I was told that an excellent quality of 
stove coal existed in the vicinity, and would be used when- 
ever it proved most economical. Nearly all the ore contains 
copper, silver, and lead, while the rest is deficient in the last 
named article. The first kind is smelted without the addi- 
tion of lead, and sometimes passes through six or seven re- 
ductions. For the ore containing only copper and silver the 
process by evaporation of lead is employed. Formerly the 
lead was brought from Nerchinsk or purchased in England, 
the land transport in either case being very expensive. Sev- 
eral years ago lead was found in the Altai mountains, and 
the supply is now sufficient for all purposes. 

The lead absorbs the silver, and leaves the copper in the 
refuse matter. This was formerly thrown away, but by a 
newly invented process the copper is extracted and saved. 
The production of silver in the Altai mines is about a thou- 
sand and fifty poods annually, or forty thousand pounds avoir- 
dupois. The silver is cast into bars or cakes about ten inches 
square, and weighing from seventy to a hundred pounds each. 

Colonel Filoff showed us into the room where the silver is 
stored. Two soldiers were on guard and six or eight others 
rested outside. A sergeant brought a sealed box which con- 
tained the key of the safe. First the box and then the safe 
were opened at the colonel's order, and when we had satis- 
fied our curiosity, the safe was locked and the key restored to 
its place of deposit. The colonel carried the seal that closed 
the box, and the sergeant was responsible for the integrity of 
the wax. 

The cakes had a dull hue, somewhat lighter than that of 
lead, and were of a convenient shape for handling. Each 
cake had its weight, and value, and result of assay stamped 
upon it, and I was told that it was assayed again at St. Peters- 
burg to guard against the algebraic process of substitution. 
About thirty poods of gold are extracted from every thousand 
poods of silver after the treasure reaches St. Petersburg. 
The silver is extracted from the lead used to absorb it, the 



518 



MINING IN SIBERIA. 



latter being again employed while the former goes on its long 
journey to the banks of the Neva. 

The ore continues to pass through successive reductions un- 
til a pood of it contains no more than three-fourths a zolotink 
of silver ; less than that proportion will not pay expenses. I 
was told that the annual cost of working the mines equaled 
the value of the silver produced. The gold contained in the 
silver is the only item of profit to the crown. About thirty 
thousand poods of copper are produced annually in this dis- 
trict, but none of the copper zavods are at Barnaool. 

All gold produced from the mines of Siberia, with the ex- 
ception of that around Nerchinsk, is sent to Barnaool to be 
smelted. This work is performed in a room about fifteen feet 
square, the furnaces being fixed in its centre like parlor 
stoves of unusual size. The smelting process continues four 
months of each year, and during this time about twelve hun- 
dred poods of gold are melted and cast into bars. This work, 
for 1866, was finished a few days before my arrival, and the 
furnaces were utterly devoid of heat. In the yard at the 




STRANGE COINCIDENCE. 



zavod, I saw a dozen or more sleds, and on each of them 
there was an iron-bound box filled with bars of gold. This 



A SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCE. 519 

train was ready to leave under strong guard for St. Peters- 
burg. 

The morning after my visit to the zavod it was reported 
that a soldier guarding the sled train had been killed during 
the night. The incident was a topic of conversation for the 
rest of my stay, but I obtained no clear account of the affair. 
All agreed that a sentinel was murdered, and one of the boxes 
plundered of several bars of gold, but beyond this there were 
conflicting statements. It was the first occurrence of the 
kind at Barnaool, and naturally excited the peaceful inhab- 
itants. 

The doctor trusted that the affair would not be associated 
wifch our visit, and I quite agreed with him. It is to be hoped 
that the future historian of Barnaool will not mention the 
murder and robbery in the same paragraph with the distin- 
guished arrival of Dr. Schmidt and an American traveler. 

The rich miners send their gold once a year to Barnaool, 
the poorer ones twice a year. Those in pressing need of 
money receive certificates of deposit as soon as their gold is 
cast into bars, and on these certificates they can obtain cash 
at the government banks. The opulent miners remain con- 
tent till their gold reaches the capital, and is coined. Four 
or six months may thus elapse after gold has left Barnaool 
before its owner obtains returns. 




CHAPTER XLIV. 

THE society of Barnaool consists of the mining and other 
officers, with a larger proportion of families than at 
Irkutsk. It had a more quiet and reserved character than 
the capital of Eastern Siberia, hut was not the less social 
and hospitable. Many young officers of the mining and to- 
pographical departments pass their summers in the moun- 
tains and their winters in Barnaool. The cold season is 
therefore the gayest, and abounds in balls, parties, concerts, 
and amateur theatricals. The former theatre has been con- 
verted into a club-room. 

There is a good proportion, for a Siberian town, of elegant 
and luxuriant houses. The furniture and adornments were 
quite as extensive as at Irkutsk or Tomsk, and several houses 
that I visited would have been creditable in Moscow or St. 
Petersburg. It is no little wonder to find all the comforts 
and luxuries of Russian life in the southern part of Siberia, 
on the borders of the Kirghese steppes. 

The large and well arranged museum contained more than 
I could even glance over in a single day. There were models 
of machines used in gold-washing, quartz mills fifty years 
old, and almost identical with those of the present day ; mod- 
els of furnaces and zavods in various parts of Siberia, and 
full delineations of the principal silver mines of the Altai. 
There was a curious steam engine, said to have been made 
at Barnaool in 1764, and used for blowing the furnaces. I 
saw a fine collection of minerals, birds, beasts, and other 
curiosities of the Altai*. Particular attention was called to 
the stuffed skins of two enormous tigers that were killed sev- 

(520) 



RUSSIAN EAGLES. 521 

eral years ago in the southern part of the district. One of 
them fell after a long fight, in which he killed one of his as- 
sailants and wounded two others. 

The museum contains several dead specimens of the bear- 
coot, or eagle of the Altai. I saw a living bird of this species 
at the house of an acquaintance. The bcarcoot is larger than 
the American eagle, and possesses strength enough to kill a 
deer or wolf with perfect ease. Dr. Duhmberg, superinten- 
dent of the hospitals, told me of an experiment with poison 
upon one of these birds. He began by giving half a grain 
of curavar, a poison from South America. It had no percep- 
tible effect, the appetite and conduct of the bird being un- 
changed. A week later he gave four grains of strychnine, 
and saw the bird's feathers tremble fifteen minutes after the 
poison was swallowed. Five hours later the patient was in 
convulsions, but his head was not affected, and he recovered 
strength and appetite on the next day. A week later the 
bearcoot swallowed seven grains of curavar, and showed no 
change for two days. On the second evening he went into 
convulsions, and died during the night. 

The Kirghese tame these eagles and employ them in hunt- 
ing. A gentleman who had traveled among the Kirghese 
told me he had seen a bearcoot swoop down upon a full grown 
deer and kill him in a few minutes. Sometimes when a pack 
of wolves has killed and begun eating a deer, the feast will 
be interrupted by a pair of bearcoots. Two birds will attack 
a dozen wolves, and either kill or drive them away. 

Barnaool is quite near the Kirghese steppes. One of my 
acquaintances had a Kirghese coachman, a tall, well formed 
man, with thick lips and a coppery complexion. I establish- 
ed a friendship with this fellow, and arranged that he should 
sit for his portrait, but somehow he was never ready. He 
brought me two of his kindred, and I endeavored to persuade 
the group to be photographed. There was a superstition 
among them that it would be detrimental to their post mor- 
tem repose if they allowed their likenesses on this earth when 
they themselves should leave it. I offered them one, two, 



522 CHARACTER OF THE KIRGHESE. 

three, and even five roubles, but they stubbornly refused. 
Their complexions were dark, and their whole physiognomy 
revealed the Tartar blood. They wore the Russian winter 
dress, but had their own costume for state occasions. In this 
part of Siberia Kirghese are frequently found in Russian em- 
ploy, and are said to be generally faithful and industrious. 
A considerable number find employment at the Altai mines, 
and a great many are engaged in taking cattle and sheep to 
the Siberian markets. 

The Kirghese lead a nomadic life, making frequent change 
of residence to find pasturage for their immense flocks and 
herds. The different tribes are more or less hostile to each 
other, and have a pleasant habit of organizing raids on a 
colossal scale. One tribe will suddenly swoop down upon 
another and steal all portable property within reach. They 
do not mind a little fighting, and an enterprise of this kind 
frequently results in a good many broken heads. The chiefs 
believe themselves descended from the great warriors of the 
ancient Tartar days, and boast loudly of their prowess. The 
Kirghese are brave in fighting each other, but have a respect- 
ful fear of the Russians. Occasionally they plunder Russian 
traders crossing the steppes, but are careful not to attack un- 
less the odds are on their own side. 

The Russians have applied their diplomacy among the 
Kirghese and pushed their boundaries far to the southward. 
They have purchased titles to districts controlled by powerful 
chiefs, and after being fairly settled have continued negotia- 
tions for more territory. They make use of the hostility be- 
tween the different tribes, and have managed so that nearly 
every feud brought advantages to Russia. Under their policy 
of toleration they never interfere with the religion of the 
conquered, and are careful not to awaken prejudices. The 
tribes in the subjugated territory are left pretty much to their 
own will. Every few years the chain of frontier posts is 
pushed to the southward, and embraces a newly acquired re- 
gion. Western Siberia is dotted over with abandoned and 
crumbling forts that once guarded the boundary, but are now 



EXTENSION OP RUSSIAN POWER. 523 

far in the interior. Some of these defences are near the 
great road across the Baraba steppe. 

The Kirghese do not till the soil nor engage in manufac- 
tures, except of a few articles for their own use. They sell 
sheep, cattle, and horses to the Russians, and frequently ac- 
company the droves to their destination. In return for their 
flocks and herds they receive goods of Russian manufacture, 
either for their own use or for traffic with the people beyond. 
Their wealth consists of domestic animals and the slaves to 
manage them. Horses and sheep are legal tender in pay- 
ment of debts, bribes, and presents. 

In the last few years Russian conquest in Central Asia has 
moved so fast that England has taken alarm for her Indian 
possessions. The last intelligence from that quarter announ- 
ces a victory of the Russians near Samarcand, followed by 
negotiations for peace. If the Muscovite power continues to 
extend over that part of Asia, England has very good reason 
to open her eyes. 

I never conversed with the Emperor on this topic, and can- 
not speak positively of his intentions toward Asia, but am 
confident he has fixed his eye upon conquest as far south of 
the Altai as he can easily go. That his armies may some- 
time hoist the Russian flag in sight of the Indo-English pos- 
sessions, is not at all improbable. But that they will either 
attempt or desire an aggressive campaign against India is 
quite beyond expectation. 

It is but a few years ago that English travelers were killed 
for having made their way into Central Asia in disguise, and 
Vamberg, the Hungarian traveler, was considered to have 
performed a great feat because he returned from there with 
his life. There is now the Tashkend Messenger., a Russian 
paper devoted to the interests of that rich province. Moscow 
merchants are establishing the Bank of Central Asia, having 
its headquarters at Tashkend and a branch at Orenburg, and 
Tashkend will soon be in telegraphic communication with the 
rest of the world. 

A plan has been proposed to open Central Asia to steam- 



524 RAILWAY BUILDING IN ASIA. 

boat navigation. The river Oxus, or Amoo-Daria, which 
flows through Bakhara and Khiva, emptying into the Aral 
sea, was once a tributary of the Caspian. Several steamers 
have been placed upon it, and others are promised soon. The 
dry bed of the old channel of the Oxus is visible in the Tur- 
coman steppe at the present day. The original diversion was 
artificial, and the dikes which direct it into the Aral are said 
to be maintained with difficulty. It has been proposed to 
send an expedition to remove these barriers and turn the 
river into its former bed. 

Coupled with this project is another to divert the course of 
the Syr-Daria and make it an affluent of the Oxus. This last 
proposition was half carried out two hundred years ago, and 
its completion would not be difficult. 

By the first project, Russia would obtain a continuous 
water-way from Nijne Novgorod on the Volga to Balkh on 
the Amoo-Daria, within two hundred miles of British India. 
The second scheme carried out would bring Tashkend and all 
Central Asia under commercial control, and have a political 
effect of no secondary importance. A new route might thus 
be opened to British India, and European civilization carried 
into a region long occupied by semi-barbarian people. Af- 
ghanistan would be relieved from its anarchy and brought 
under wholesome rule. The geographical effect would doubt- 
less be the drying up of the Aral sea. A railway between 
Balkh and Delhi would complete an inland steam route be- 
tween St. Petersburg and Calcutta. 

Surveys have been ordered for a Central Asiatic Railway 
from Orenburg or some point farther south, and it is quite 
possible that before many years the locomotive will be shriek- 
ing over the Tartar steppes and frightening the flocks and 
herds of the wandering Kalmacks and Kirghese. A railway 
is in process of construction from the Black Sea to the Cas- 
pian, and when this is completed, a line into Central Asia is 
only a question of time. 

The Russians have an extensive trade with Central Asia. 
Goods are transported on camels, the caravans coming in 



TRADITION OF THE "SHEEP PLANT." 525 

season for the fairs of Irbit and Nijne Novgorod. The cara- 
vans from Bokhara proceed to Troitska, (Lat. 54° N., Lon. 
61° 20' E.,) Petropavlovsk, (Lat. 54° 30' N., Lon. 69° E.,) 
and Orenburg, (Lat. 51° 46' N., Lon. 55° 5 E.) There is 
also a considerable traffic to Sempolatinsk, (Lat. 50° 30' N., 
Lon. 80° E.) The Russian merchandise consists of metals, 
iron and steel goods, beads, mirrors, cloths of various kinds, 
and a miscellaneous lot " too numerous to mention." Much 
of the country over which these caravans travel is a succes- 
sion of Asiatic steppes, with occasional salt lakes and scanty 
supplies of fresh water. 

After passing the Altai mountains and outlying chains the 
routes are quite monotonous. Fearful bourans are frequent, 
and in certain parts of the route they take the form of sand 
storms. A Russian army on its way to Khiva twenty-five 
years ago, was almost entirely destroyed in one of these des- 
ert tempests. Occasionally the caravans suffer severely. 

The merchandise from Bokhara includes raw cotton, sheep- 
skins, rhubarb, dried fruits, peltries, silk, and leather, with 
shawl goods of different kinds. Cotton is an important pro- 
duct, and in the latter part of my journey I saw large quan- 
tities going to Russian factories. Three hundred years ago 
a German traveler in Russia wrote an account of ' a wonder- 
ful plant beyond the Caspian sea.' " Veracious people," says 
the writer, " tell me that the Borauez, or sheep plant, grows 
upon a stalk larger than my thumb ; it has a head, eyes, and 
ears like a sheep, but is without sensation, The natives use 
its wool for various purposes." 

I heard an interesting story of an adventure in which one 
of the Kirghese, who was living among the Russians at the 
time of my visit to Barnaool, played an important part. He 
was a fine looking fellow, whose tribe lived between the Altai 
Mountains and Lake Ural, spending the winters in the low 
lands and the summers in the valleys of the foot-hills. He 
was the son of one of the patriarchs of the tribe, and was 
captured, during a baranta or foray, by a chief who had long 
been on hostile terms with his neighbors. The young man 



526 A ROMANTIC STORY. 

was held for ransom, but the price demanded was more than 
his father could pay, and so he remained in captivity. 

He managed to ingratiate himself with the chief of the 
tribe that captured him, and as a mark of honor, and proba- 
bly as an excuse for the high ransom demanded, he was ap- 
pointed to live in the chief's household. He was allowed to 
ride with the party when they moved, and accompany the 
herdsmen ; but a sharp watch was kept on his movements 
whenever he was mounted, and care was taken that the 
horses he rode were not very fleet. The chief had a daugh- 
ter whom he expected to marry to one of his powerful neigh- 
bors, and thereby secure a permanent friendship between the 
tribes. She was a style of beauty highly prized among the 
Asiatics, was quite at home on horseback, and understood all 
the arts and accomplishments necessary to a Kirghese maiden 
of noble blood. It is nothing marvelous that the young cap- 
tive, Selim, should become fond of the charming Acson, the 
daughter of his captor. His fondness was reciprocated, but, 
like prudent lovers everywhere, they concealed their feelings, 
and to the outer world preserved a most indifferent exterior. 

Selim thought it best to elope, and broached his opinion 
to Acson, who readily favored it. They concluded to make 
the attempt when the tribe was moving to change its pastur- 
age, and their absence would not be noticed until they had 
several hours start and were many miles on their way. They 
waited until the chief gave the order to move to another lo- 
cality, where the grass was better. Acson managed to leave 
the tent in the night, under some frivolous pretext, and select 
two of her father's best horses, which she concealed in a 
grove not far away. By previous arrangement she appeared 
sullen and indignant toward Selim, who, mounted on a very 
sorry nag, set off with a party of men that were driving a 
large herd of horses. The latter were ungovernable, and the 
party became separated, so that it was easy for Selim to drop 
out altogether and make his way to the grove where the 
horses were concealed. In the same way Acson abandoned 



FLIGHT OP THE LOVERS. 



527 




THE ELOPEMENT. 



the party she started with, and within an hour from the time 
they left the aool, or encampment, the lovers met in the grove. 

It was a long way to Selim's tribe, but he knew it was 
somewhere in the mountains to the north and west, having 
left its winter quar- 
ters in the low coun- 
try. The pair said 
their prayers in the 
true Mahommedan 
6tyle, and then, 
mounting their 
horses, set out at an ' jip 
easy pace to ascend jjjji 
the valley toward 
the higher land. 
Their horses were 
in excellent condi- 
tion, but they knew 
it would be necessary to ride hard in case they were pursued, 
and they wished to reserve their strength for the final effort. 
An hour before nightfall, they saw, far down the valley, a 
party in pursuit The party was riding rapidly, and from 
appearances had not caught sight of the fugitives. After a 
brief consultation the latter determined to turn aside at the 
first bend of the valley, and endeavor to cross at the next 
stream, while leaving the pursuers to go forward and be de- 
ceived. 

They turned aside, and were gratified to see from a place 
of concealment the pursuing party proceed up the valley. 
The departure of the fugitives was evidently known some 
time earlier than they expected, else the pursuit would not 
have begun so soon. Guided by the general course of the 
hills, the fugitives made their way to the next valley, and, as 
the night had come upon them, they made a camp beneath a 
shady tree, picketing their horses, and eating such provisions 
as they had brought with them. 

In the morning, just as their steeds were saddled and they 



528 



PURSUED BUT NOT CAPTURED, 



were preparing to resume their journey, they saw their pur- 
suers enter the valley a mile or two below them, and move 
rapidly in their direction. Evidently they had turned back 
after losing the track, and found it without much delay. But 
their horses were more weary than those of the fleeing lovers, 
so that the latter were confident of winning the race. 

Swift was the flight and swift the pursuit. The valley was 
wide and nearly straight, and the lovers steadily increased 
the distance between them and their pursuers. They follow- 
ed no path, but kept steadily forward, witli their faces toward 
the mountains. Their pursuers, originally half a dozen, di- 
minished to five, then to four, and as the hours wore on Selim 
found that only two were in sight. But a new obstacle arose 
to his escape. 

He knew that the valley he was ascending was abruptly 
enclosed in the mountains, and escape would be difficult. 
Further to the east was a more practicable one, and he de- 
termined to attempt to reach it. Turning from the valley, 




THE FIGHT 



he was followed by his two pursuers, who were so close upon 
him that he determined to fight them. Acson had brought 
away one of her father's scimetars, and with this Selim pre- 
pared to do battle. Finding a suitable place among the rocks, 
he concealed his horses, and with Acson made a stand where 
he could fight to advantage. He took his position on a rock 
just over the path his pursuers were likely to follow, and 
watched his opportunity to hurl a stone, which knocked one 



A FATAL ENDING. 



529 



of them senseless. The other was dismounted by his horse 
taking fright, and before he could regain his saddle, Selim 
was upon him. A short hand-to^iand fight resulted in Se- 
lim' s favor. 

Leaving his adversaries upon the ground, one of them dead 
and the other mortally wounded, Selim called Acson and re- 
turned to his horses. Both the fugitives were thoroughly 
exhausted on reaching the valley, and found to their dismay 
that a stream they were obliged to cross was greatly swollen 
with recent rains in the mountains. 

They were anxious to put the stream between them and 
their remaining pursuers, and after a brief halt they plunged 
in with their horses. Selim crossed safely, his horse stem- 
ming the current and landing some distance below the point 
where he entered the water. Acson was less fortunate. 

While in the middle of the stream her horse stumbled 
upon a stone, 
and sprang 
about so wild- 
ly as to throw 
her from the 
saddle. Grasp- 
ing the limb 
of a tree over- 
hanging the 
water, she 
clung for a 
moment, but 
the horse 
sweeping 

against her, tore the support from her hand. With a loud 
cry to her terror-stricken lover, she sank beneath the waters 
and was dashed against the rocks a hundred yards below. 

Day became night, the stars sparkled in the blue heavens ; 

the moon rose and took her course along the sky ; the wind 

sighed among the trees ; morning tinged the eastern horizon, 

and the sun pushed above it, while Selim paced the banks of 

34 




THE CATASTROPHE. 



530 



DEATH, DESPAIE, AND FIDELITY. 



the river and watched the waters rolling, rolling, rolling, as 
they carried his heart's idol away from him forever, and it 
was not until night again approached that he mounted his 
steed and rode away, heart-broken and full of sadness. He 
ultimately made his way to his own tribe, but years passed 
before he recovered from the crushing weight of that blow ; 
and when I saw him there was still upon his countenance a 
deep shadow which will never be removed. Such is the story 
of Selim and Acson, A more romantic one is hardly to be 
found. 




CHAPTER XLV. : 

ONE morning while I was in Barnaool the doctor left me 
writing, and went out for a promenade. In half an 
hour he returned accompanied by a tall, well-formed man 
with a brunette complexion, and hair and mustache black as 
ebony. His dress was Russian, but the face impressed me 
as something strange. 

" Let me introduce you," said the doctor, " to an officer of 
the Persian army. He has been eight years from home, and 
would like to talk with an American." 

We shook hands, and by way of getting on familiar foot- 
ing, I opened my cigar case. Dr. Schmidt translated our 
conversation, the Persian speaking Russian very fairly. His 
story was curious and interesting. He was captured in 1858 
near Herat, by a party of predatory Turcomans. His captors 
sold him to a merchant at Balkh where he remained some- 
time. From Balkh he was sold to Khiva, and from Khiva to 
Bokhara, whence he escaped with a fellow captive. I asked if 
he was compelled to labor during his captivity, and received 
a negative reply. Soldiers and all others except officers are 
forced to all kinds of drudgery when captured by these bar- 
barians. Officers are held for ransom, and their duties are 
comparatively light. 

Russian slaves are not uncommon in Central Asia, though 
less numerous than formerly. The Kirghese cripple their 
prisoners by inserting a horse hair in a wound in the heel. 
A man thus treated is lamed for life. He cannot use his feet 
in escaping, and care is taken that he does not secure a horse. 

The two fugitives traveled together from Bokhara, suffering 
(531) 



532 UNEXPECTED SITUATION. 

great hardships in their journey over the steppes. They 
avoided all towns through fear of capture, and subsisted upon 
whatever chance threw in their way. Once when near starv- 
ation they found and killed a sheep. They ate heartily of 
its raw flesh, and before the supply thus obtained was ex- 
hausted they reached the Russian boundary at Chuguchak. 
One of the twain died soon afterward, and his companion in 
flight came to Barnaool. The authorities would not let him 
go farther without a passport, and he had been in the town 
nearly a year at the time of my visit. 

Through the Persian ambassador at St. Petersburg, he had 
communicated with his government at Teheran, and expected 
his passport in a few weeks. 

During the eight years that had elapsed since his capture 
this gentleman heard nothing from his own country. He had 
learned to speak Russian but could not read it. I told him 
of the completion of the Indo-European telegraph by way 
of the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf, and the success of 
electric communication between England and India. Natu- 
rally he was less interested concerning the Atlantic cable than 
about the telegraph in his own country. We shook hands at 
parting, and mutually expressed a wish to meet again in Per- 
sia and America. 

After his departure, the doctor commented upon the intel- 
ligent bearing and clear eye of the Persian, and then said : 

" I have done several strange and unexpected things in 
my life, but I never dreamed I should be the interpreter be- 
tween a Persian and an American at the foot of the Altai 
mountains." 

I met at Barnaool, a Prussian gentleman Mr. Radroff, who 
was sent to Siberia by the Russian Academy of Science. He 
knew nearly all the languages of Europe, and had spent some 
years in studying those of Central Asia. He could converse 
and read in Chinese, Persian, and Mongol, and I don't know 
how many languages and dialects of lesser note. His special 
mission was to collect information about the present and past 
inhabitants of Central Asia, and in this endeavor he had 



TURCOMAN CRUELTY. 533 

made explorations in the country of the Kirghese and beyond 
Lake Balkask. He was preparing for a journey in 1867 to 
Kashgar. 

•Mr. Radroff possessed many archaeological relics gathered 
in his researches, and exhibited drawings of many tumuli. 
He had a curious collection of spear heads, knives, swords, 
ornaments, stirrup irons, and other souvenirs of ancient days. 
He discoursed upon the ages of copper, gold, and iron, and 
told the probable antiquity of each specimen he brought out. 
He gave me a spear head and a knife blade taken from a 
burial mound in the Kirghese country. " You observe," said 
he, " they are of copper and were doubtless made before the 
discovery of iron. They are probably three thousand years 
old, and may be more. In these tumuli, copper is found 
much better preserved than iron, though the latter is more 
recently buried." 

At this gentleman's house, I saw a Persian soldier who had 
been ten years in captivity among the Turcomans, where he 
was beaten and forced to the lowest drudgery, and often kept 
in chains. After long and patient waiting he escaped and 
reached the Siberian boundary. Having no passport, and 
unable to make himself understood, he was sent to Barnaool 
and lodged in prison where he remained nearly two years ! 
The Persian officer above mentioned, heard of him by acci- 
dent, and procured his release. Mr. Radroff had taken the 
man as a house servant and a teacher of the Persian lan- 
guage. I heard him read in a sonorous voice several passages 
from the Koran. His face bore the marks of deep suffering, 
and gave silent witness to the story of his terrible captivity 
in the hands of the Turcomans. His incarceration at Bar- 
naool was referred to as an " unfortunate oversight." Escap- 
ing from barbarian slavery he fell into a civilized prison, and 
must have considered Christian kindness more fanciful than 
real. He expected to accompany his countryman on his re- 
turn to Persia. 

The day before our departure, we were invited to a public 
dinner in honor of our visit. It took place at the club rooms, 



534 "all full inside." 

the tables being set in what was once the parquet of the thea- 
tre. The officials, from General Freeze downward, were seated 
in the order of their rank, and the post of honor was as- 
signed to the two strangers. No ladies were present, and the 
dinner, so far as its gastronomic features went, was much like 
a dinner at Irkutsk or Kiachta. 

At the second course my attention was called to an excel- 
lent fish peculiar to the Ob and Yenesei rivers. It is a species 
of salmon under the name of Nalma, and ascends from the 
Arctic Ocean. Beef from the Kirghese steppes elicited our 
praise, and so did game from the region around Barnaool. 
At the end of the dinner I was ready to answer affirmatively 
the inquiry, " all full inside ?" 

At the appearance of the champagne, Colonel Taskin of the 
mining engineers made a brief speech in English, and ended 
by proposing the United States of America and the health of 
the American stranger. Dr. Schmidt translated my response 
as well as my toast to the Russian empire, and especially the 
inhabitants of Barnaool. The doctor was then honored for 
his mammoth hunt, and made proper acknowledgment. Then 
we had personal toasts and more champagne with Russian 
and American music, and champagne again, and then we had 
some more champagne and then some champagne. 

When the tables were removed, we had impromptu danc- 
ing to lively music, including several Cossack dances, some 
familiar and others new to me. There is one of these dances 
which usually commences by a woman stepping into the cen- 
tre of the room and holding a kerchief in her right hand. 
Moving gracefully to the music, she passes around the apart- 
ment, beckoning to one, hiding her face from another, gestic- 
ulating with extended arms before a third, and skilfully man- 
ipulating the kerchief all the while. When this sentimental 
pantomime is ended, she selects a partner and waves the ker- 
chief over him. He pretends reluctance, but allows himself 
to be dragged to the floor where the couple dance en deux. The 
dance includes a great deal of entreaty, aversion, hope, and 
despair, all in dumb show, and ends by the lady being led to 



THE POLKEDO VATE. 



535 



a seat. I saw this dance introduced in a ballet at the Grand 
Theatre in Moscow, and wondered why it never appeared on 
the stage outside the Russian empire. 

One of the gentlemen who danced admirably had recov- 
ered the use of his legs two years before, after being unable 
to walk no less than twenty-eight years. He declared him- 
self determined to make up for lost time, and when I left the 
hall, he continued entertaining himself. 

During the dancing, a party gathered around where I stood 
and I observed that every lady was assembling as if to wit- 
ness some fun. " Be on your watch," a friend whispered, 
" they are going to give you the polkedovate." 

The polkedovate is nothing more nor less than a tossing up 
at the hands of a dozen or twenty Russians. It has the effect 
of intoxicating a sober man, but I never heard that it sobered 
a drunken one. Major Collins was elevated in this way at 
Kiachta, and declares that the effect, added to the champagne 
he had previously taken, was not at all satisfactory. Remem- 




THE POLKEDOTATE. 



bering his experience, and fearing I might go too high or 
come too low, I was glad when a diversion was made in my 
favor by a gentleman coming to bid me good night. 

The custom of tossing up a guest is less prevalent in Sibe- 
ria than ten or twenty years ago. It was formerly a mark of 



536 



MAKING EXPLANATION. 



high respect, but I presume few who were thus honored 
would have hesitated to forego the distinguished courtesy. 

One of the gentlemen I met at dinner had a passion for 
trotting horses. He asked me many questions about the 
famous race horses in America, from Lady Suffolk down to 
the latest two-twenties. I answered to the best of my abili- 
ties, but truth required me to say I was not authority in 
equine matters. The gentleman treated me to a display of 
trotting by a Siberian horse five years old, and carefully 
trained. I forget the exact figures he gave me, but believe 
they were something like two-thirty to the mile. To my un- 
horsy eye, the animal was pretty, and well formed, and I 
doubt not he would have acquitted himself finely on the Bloom- 
ingdale Road. The best horses in Siberia are generally from 
European Russia, the Siberian climate being unfavorable to 
careful breeding. Kirghese horses are excellent under the 
saddle, but not well reputed for draught purposes. 

I gave out some washing at Barnaool, and accidentally in- 
cluded a paper collar in the lot. When the laundress re- 
turned the linen, she explained with much sorrow the disso- 
lution of the collar when 
she attempted to wash 
it. I presume it was 
the first of its kind that 
ever reached the Altai 
mountains. 

We arranged to leave 
Barnaool at the conclu- 
sion of the dinner at 
the club room. First 
we proceeded to the 
house of Colonel Taskin 
where we took ' posi- 
tively the last' glass of champagne. Our preparations at 
our lodgings were soon completed, and the baggage carefully 
stowed. A party of our acquaintances assembled to witness 
our departure, and pass through a round of kissing as the 




MAKING EXPLANATION. 



A MUSICAL TEMSHICK. 537 

yemshick uttered ' gotovey.' They did not make an end of 
hand-shaking until we were wrapped aud bundled into the 
sleigh. 

It was a keen, frosty night with the stars twinkling in the 
clear heavens as we drove outside the 'yard of our hotel. 
Horses, driver, and travelers were alike exhilarated in the sharp 
atmosphere and we dashed off at courier pace. The driver 
was a musical fellow, and endeavored to sing a Russian bal- 
lad while we were galloping over the glistening snow. 

We had a long ride before us. The wide steppe of Baraba, 
or Barabinsky, lies between Barnaool and the foot of the 
Ural mountains. There was no town where we expected to 
stop before reaching Tumen, fifteen hundred versts away. As 
the luxuries of life are not abundant on this road we stored 
our sleighs with provisions, and hoped to add bread and eggs 
at the stations. Our farewell dinner was considered a suffi- 
cient preparation for at least a hundred and fifty versts. I 
nestled down among the furs and hay which formed my bed, 
leaned back upon the pillows and exposed only a few square 
inches of visage to the nipping and eager air. 

A few versts from town we stuck upon an icy bank where 
the smooth feet of our horses could not obtain holding ground. 
After a while we attached one horse to a long rope, and en- 
abled him to pull from the level snow above the bank. I ex- 
pected the yemshick would ask us to lighten the sleigh by 
stepping out of it. An American driver would have put us 
ashore without ceremony, but custom is otherwise in Siberia. 
Horses and driver are engaged to take the vehicle and its 
burden to the next station, and it is the traveler's privilege 
to remain in his place in any emergency short of an overturn. 

The track was excellent, having been well trodden since 
the storm. We followed our former road a hundred versts 
from Barnaool, and then turned to the left to strike the great 
post route near Kiansk. It was necessary to cross the river 
Ob, and as we reached the station near it during the night, 
we waited for daylight. The ice was sufficiently thick and 
firm, but the danger arose from holes and thin places that 



538 



AFTER THE BATH 




tip. 



could not be readily discovered in the dark. While crossing 
we met a peasant who had tumbled into one of these hojes, 

and been fished out by his friends. 
He looked unhappy, and no 
doubt felt so. His garments 
were frozen stiff, and altogether 
he resembled a bronze statue of 
Franklin after a freezing rain 
storm. 

The thermometer fell on the 
first night to fifteen degrees be- 
low zero, and to about- 20° just 
before sunrise. The colder it 
grew the better was our speed, 
the horses feeling the crisp air 
and the driver being anxious to 
complete his stage in the least 
time possible. With uniform 
roads and teams one can judge 
pretty fairly of the temperature 
by the rate at which he travels. 
From Barnaool we did not 
have the horses of the post, but 
engaged our first troikas of a 
peasant who offered his services. 
Our yemshick took us to his 
friend at the first station, and 
this operation was regularly re- 
peated. Occasionally our two yemshicks had different friends, 
and our sleighs were separately out-fitted. When this was 
the case the teams were speedily attached out of a spirit of ri- 
valry. We frequently endeavored to excite the yemshicks to 
the noble ambition of a race by offering a few copecks to the 
winner. When the teams were furnished from different 
houses the temper of emulation roused itself spontaneously. 

Twice we left the post route to make short cuts that saved 
thirty or forty miles travel. On those side roads we found 




AFTER THE BATH. 



REMEDY FOR RHEUMATISM. 539 

plently of horses, and were promptly served. The inhabi- 
tants of the steppe are delighted at the opportunity to carry 
travelers at post rates. The latter are saved the trouble of 
exhibiting their padarashnia at every station, and generally 
prefer to employ private teams. The horses were small, wiry 
beasts of Tartar breed, and utter strangers to combs and 
brushes. 

While at breakfast on the second morning we were accost- 
ed by an old and decrepid beggar. The fellow wore a deco- 
ration consisting of a box six or seven inches square, sus- 
pended on his breast by a strap around his neck. Though 
seedy enough to set up business on his own account, he ex- 
plained that he was begging for the church. His honesty 
was evidently in question as the box was firmly locked and 
had an aperture in the top for receiving money. We each 
gave ten copecks into his hand, and I observed that he did 
not drop the gratuity into the box. I was reminded of the 
man who owed a grudge against a railroad line, and declared 
that the company should never have another cent of his 
money. A friend asked how he would prevent it, as he fre- 
quently traveled over the road. 

" Easy enough," was the calm reply, " I shall hereafter 
pay my fare to the conductor." 

The morning after reaching Barnaool, I had a fine twinge 
of rheumatism that adhered during my stay. Quite to my 
surprise it left me on the second day after our departure, and 
like the bad boy in the story never came back again. The 
medical faculty can have the benefit of my experience, and 
prescribe as follows for their rheumatic patients. 

"st. nt. o. lg. si. S. r.=ther.- g 

Start at night on a long sleigh ride over a Siberian road 
with the thermometer below zero." 

A bouran arose in the afternoon of the second day, but 
was neither violent nor very cold. At Barnaool I had my 
sleigh specially prepared to exclude drifting snow.' I 



540 



AN ANIMATED SNOW STATUE. 



ordered a liberal supply of buttons and straps to fasten the 
boot to the hood, besides an overlapping flap of thick felt to 
cover the crevice between them. The precaution was well 
taken, and with our doors thoroughly closed we were not 
troubled with much snow. The drivers were exposed on the 
outside of the sleigh, and had the full benefit of the wind. 
At the end of the first drive after this storm commenced our 
yemshick might have passed for an animated snow statue. 
The road was tolerable, and a great improvement upon that 
from Krasnoyarsk to Tomsk. 




CHAPTER XLVI. 

THE great steppe of Baraba is quite monotonous, as there 
is very little change of scenery in traveling over it. 
Whoever has been south or west from Chicago, or west from 
Leavenworth, in winter, can form a very good idea of the 
steppe. The winter appearance is much like that of a west- 
ern prairie covered with snow. Whether there is equal sim- 
ilarity in summer I am unable to say. The country is flat or 
slightly undulating, and has a scanty growth of timber. 
Sometimes there were many versts without trees, then there 
would be a scattered and straggling display of birches, and 
again the growth was dense enough to be called a forest. 
The principal arboreal productions are birches, and I lound 
the houses, sheds, and fences in most of the villages con- 
structed of birch timber. The open part of the steppe, far 
more extensive than the wooded portion, was evidently favor- 
able to the growth of grass, as I saw a great deal protruding 
above the snow. There are many marshy and boggy places, 
covered in summer with a dense growth of reeds. They are 
a serious inconvenience to the traveler on account of the 
swarms of mosquitoes, gnats, and other tormenting insects 
that they produce. 

While crossing the Baraba swamps in summer, men and 
women are obliged to wear veils as a protection against these 
pests. Horses are sometimes killed by their bites, and fre- 
quently became thin in flesh from the constant annoyance. 
A gentleman told me that once when crossing the swamps 
one of his horses, maddened by the insects, broke from the 
carriage and fled out of sight among the tall reeds. The 

(541) 



542 SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS. 

yemshicks, who knew the locality, said the animal would cer- 
tainly be killed by his winged pursuers in less than twenty- 
four hours. 

There is much game on the steppe in summer, birds being 
more numerous than beasts. The only winter game we saw 
was the white partridge, (JcurupatTci^) of which we secured 
several specimens. 

The steppe is fertile, and in everything the soil can pro- 
duce the people are wealthy. They have wheat, rye, and oats 
in abundance, but pay little attention to garden vegetables. 
In 1866 the crops were small in all parts of Siberia west of 
Lake Baikal, and I frequently heard the peasants complaining 
of high prices. They said such a season was almost unprece- 
dented. On the steppe oats were forty copecks, and wheat 
and rye seventy copecks a pood ; equaling about thirty cents 
and seventy-five cents a bushel respectively. In some years 
wheat has been sold for ten copecks the pood, and other pro- 
ducts at proportionate prices. We paid twelve copecks the 
dizaine for eggs, which frequently sell for one-third that sum. 

The fertility of the soil cannot be turned to great account, 
as there is no general market. Men and horses engaged in 
the transportation and postal service create a limited demand, 
but there is little sale beyond this. With so small a market 
there are very few rich inhabitants on the steppe ; and with 
edibles at a cheap rate, there are few cases of extreme pov- 
erty. We rarely saw beggars, and on the other hand we 
found nobody who was able to dress in broadcloth and fine 
linen and fare sumptuously every day. 

Hay is abundant, and may be cut on any unclaimed part 
of the steppe. I was told that in some places the farmers of 
a village assemble on horseback at an appointed time. At a 
given signal all start for the haying spots, and the first arrival 
has the first choice. There is enough for all, and in ordin- 
ary seasons no grass less than knee high is considered worth 
cutting. 

At the villages we generally obtained excellent bread of 
unbolted wheat flour, rye being rarely used. There were 



TESTING BILL OF FARE. 543 

many windmills of clumsy construction, the wheels having 
but four wings, and the whole concern turning on a pivot to 
bring its face to the wind. No bolting apparatus has been 
introduced, and the machinery is of the simplest and most 
primitive character. It was a period of fasting, just before 
Christmas, and our whole obtainable bill of fare comprised 
bread and eggs. As we reached a certain station we asked 
what we could get to eat. 

" Everything," was the prompt reply of the smotretal. 
We were hungry, and this information was cheering. 

" Give us some schee, if you please," said the doctor. 

An inquiry in the kitchen showed this edible to be ' just 
out.' 

" Some beef, then ? " 

There was no beef to be had. Cutlets were alike nega- 
tived. 

" Any pilmania ? " was our next inquiry. 

1 i Nierte ; nizniu . ' ' 

The ' everything ' hunted down consisted of eggs, bread, 
and hot water. "We brought out a boiled ham, that was gen- 
erally our piece de resistance, and made a royal meal. If 
trichina spiralis existed in Siberian ham, it was never able to 
disturb us. We found no fruit as there are no orchards in 
Siberia. Attempts have been made to cultivate fruit, but 
none have succeeded. A little production about the size of 
a whortleberry was shown me in Eastern Siberia, where it 
was pickled and served up as a relish with meat. " This is 
the Siberian apple," said the gentleman who first exhibited 
it, " and it has degenerated to what you see since its intro- 
duction from Europe." On dissecting one of these little 
berries, I found it possessed the anatomy of the apple, with 
seeds smaller than pin-heads. 

Hotzebue and other travelers say there are no bees in Si- 
beria, but the assertion is incorrect. I saw native honey 
enough to convince me on this point, and learned that bees 
are successfully raised in the southern part of Asiatic Russia. 

We were not greatly delayed in our team changing, though 



544 



UNIVERSAL TEA DRINKING. 



we lost several hours in small instalments. "We had two 
sleighs, and although there were anywhere up to a dozen men 
to prepare them, the harnessing of one team was generally 

completed before the other was 
led out. When the horses were 
ready, the driver often went to 
fetch his dehar and make his 
toilet. In this way we would 
lose five or ten minutes, a small 
matter by itself, but a large one 
when under heavy multiplica- 
tion. 

We took breakfast and dinner 
daily in the peasants' houses, 
which we found very much like 
the stations. We carried our 
own tea and sugar, and with a 
fair supply of provisions, added 
what we could obtain. Tea was 
the great solace of the journey, 
and proved, above all others, the 
beverage which cheers. I could 
swallow several cups at a sitting, 
and never failed to find myself refreshed. It is far better 
than vodki or brandy for traveling purposes, and many Rus- 
sians who are pretty free drinkers at home adhere quite close- 
ly to tea on the road. The merchant traveler drinks enor- 
mous quantities, and I have seen a couple of these worthies 
empty a twenty cup samovar with no appearance of surfeit. 
So much hot liquid inside generally sets them into a perspi- 
ration. Nothing but loaf sugar is used, and there is a very 
common practice of holding a lump in one hand and follow- 
ing a sip of the unsweetened tea with a nibble at the sugar. 
When several persons are engaged in this rasping process a 
curious sound is produced. 

There are many Tartars living on the steppe, but we saw 
very little of them, as our changes were made at the Russian 




THE DRIVER S TOILET. 



MODE OF SPINNING, 



545 



villages. Before the reign of Catherine II. there was but a 
small population between Tumen and Tomsk, and the road 
was more a fiction than a fact. The Governor General of 
Siberia persuaded Catherine to let him have all conscripts of 
one levy instead of sending them to the army. He settled 
them in villages along the route over the steppe, and the wis- 
dom of his policy was very soon apparent. The present 
population is made up of the descendants of these and other 
early settlers, together with exiles and voluntary emigrants 
of the present century. Several villages have a bad reputa- 
tion, and I heard stories of robbery and murder. In general 
the dwellers on the steppe are reputable, and they certainly 
impressed me favorably. 

I was told by a Russian that Catherine once thought of 
giving the Siberians a constitution somewhat like that of the 
United States of America, but was dissuaded from so doing 
by one of her ministers. 

The villages were generally built each in a single street, or 
at most, in two streets. The largest houses had yards, or 
enclosures, into which we 
drove when stopping for 
breakfast or dinner. The 
best windows were of glass 
or talc, fixed in frames, and 
generally made double. The 
poorer peasants contented 
themselves with windows of 
ox or cow stomachs, scraped 
thin and stretched in drying. 
There were no iron stoves 
in any house I visited, the 
Russian peitcha or brick 
stove being universal. Very 
often we found the women 
and girls engaged in spin*, 
ning. No wheel is used for this purpose, the entire apparatus 
being a hand spindle and a piece of board. The flax is fast- 
35 




WOMEN SPINNING. 



546 AN UNSUCCESSFUL CONSPIKACY. 

ened on an upright board, and the fingers of the left hand 
gather the fibres and begin the formation of a thread. The 
right hand twirls the spindle, and by skillful manipulation a 
good thread is formed with considerable rapidity. 

A great deal of hemp and flax is raised upon the steppe, 
and we found rope abundant, cheap, and good. I bought ten 
fathoms of half-inch rope for forty copecks, a peasant bring- 
ing it to a house where we breakfasted. When I paid for it 
the mistress of the house quietly appropriated ten copecks, 
remarking that the rope maker owed her that amount. She 
talked louder and more continuously than any other woman 
I met in Siberia, and awakened my wonder by going bare- 
footed into an open shed and remaining there several minutes. 
She stood in snow and on ice, but appeared quite unconcern- 
ed. Our thermometer at the time showed a temperature of 
21° below zero. 

The only city on the steppe is Omsk, at the junction of 
the Om and Irtish, and the capital of Western Siberia. It 
is said to contain twelve thousand inhabitants, and its build- 
ings are generally well constructed. We did not follow the 
post route through Omsk, but took a cut-off that carried us 
to the northward and saved a hundred versts of sleigh riding. 
The city was founded in order to have a capital in the vicin- 
ity of the Kirghese frontier, but since its construction the 
frontier line has removed far away. 

In 1834 a conspiracy, extending widely through Siberia, 
was organized at Omsk. M. Piotrowski gives an account of 
it, from which I abridge the following : 

It was planned by the Abbe Sierosiuski, a Polish Catholic 
priest who had been exiled for taking part in the rebellion of 
1831. He was sent to serve in the ranks of a Cossack regi- 
ment in Western Siberia, and after a brief period of military 
duty was appointed teacher in the military school at Omsk. 
His position gave him opportunity to project a rebellion. His 
plan was well laid, and found ready supporters among other 
exiles, especially the Poles. Some ambitious Russians and 
Tartars were in the secret. The object was to secure the 



FLOGGING WITH THE STICK, 



547 



complete independence of Siberia and the release of all pris- 
oners. In the event of failure it was determined to march 
over the Kirghese steppes to Tashkend, and attempt to reach 
British India. 

Everything was arranged, both in Eastern and "Western 
Siberia. The revolt was to begin at Omsk, where most of 
the conspirators were stationed, and where there was an 
abundance of arms, ammunition, supplies, and money. The 
evening before the day appointed for the rising, the plot was 
revealed by three Polish soldiers, who confessed all they 
knew to Colonel Degrave, the governor of Omsk. Sierosiuski 
and his fellow conspirators in the city were at once arrested, 
and orders were despatched over the whole country to secure 
all accomplices and suspected persons. About a thousand 
arrests were made, and as soon as news of the affair reached 
St. Petersburg, a commission of inquiry was appointed. The 




FLOGUI.NG WITH STICKS. 



investigations lasted until 1837, when they were concluded 
and the sentences confirmed. 

Six principal offenders, including the chief, were each con- 
demned to seven thousand blows of the plette, or stick, while 
walking the gauntlet between two files of soldiers. This is 
equivalent to a death sentence, as very few men can survive 
more than four thousand blows. Only one of the six out- 



548 CITY OF TOBOLSK. 

lived the day when the punishment was inflicted, some falling 
dead before the full number of strokes had been given. The 
minor offenders were variously sentenced, according to the 
extent of their guilt, flogging with the stick being followed 
by penal colonization or military service in distant garrisons. 

It is said that the priest Sierosiuski while undergoing his 
punishment recited in a clear voice the Latin prayer, " Misere 
mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordium tuam." 

On approaching the Irtish we found it bordered by hills 
which presented steep banks toward the river. The opposite 
bank was low and quite level. It is a peculiarity of most 
rivers in Russia that the right banks rise into bluffs, while 
the opposite shores are low and flat. The Yolga is a fine ex- 
ample of this, all the way from Tver to Astrachan, and the 
same feature is observable in most of the Siberian streams 
that reach the Arctic Ocean. Various conjectures account 
for it, but none are satisfactory to scientific men. 

Steamboats have ascended to Omsk, but there is not suffi- 
cient traffic to make regular navigation profitable. We cross- 
ed the Irtish two hundred and seventy versts south of Tobolsk, 
a city familiar to American readers from its connection with 
the " Story of Elizabeth." The great road formerly passed 
through Tobolsk, and was changed when a survey of the 
country showed that two hundred versts might be saved. 
Formerly all exiles to Siberia were first sent to that city, 
where a " Commission of Transportation" held constant ses- 
sion. From Tobolsk the prisoners were told off to the differ- 
ent governments, provinces, districts, and ' circles,' and as- 
signed to the penalties prescribed by their sentences. 

Many prominent exiles have lived in the northern part of 
the government of Tobolsk, especially at Beresov on the river 
Ob. Menshikoff, a favorite of Peter the Great, died there in 
exile, and so did the Prince Dolgorouki and the count Oster- 
man. It is said the body of Menshikoff was buried in the 
frozen earth at Beresov, and found perfectly preserved a hun- 
dred years after its interment. In that region the ground 
never thaws more than a foot or two from the surface ; below 



RESPONSIBILITY OP AN ESCORT. 549 

to an unknown depth it is hardened by perpetual frost. 
Many Poles have been involuntary residents of this region, 
and contributed to the development of its few resources. 

North of Tobolsk, the Ostiaks are the principal aboriginals, 
and frequently wander as far south as Omsk. Before the 
Russian occupation of Siberia the natives carried on a trade 
with the Tartars of Central Asia, and the abundance and 
cheapness of their furs made them attractive customers. 
Marco Polo mentions a people " in the dark regions of the 
North, who employ dogs to draw their sledges, and trade with 
the merchants from Bokhara." There is little doubt he re- 
ferred to the Ostiaks and Samoyedes. 

A Polish lady exiled to Beresov in 1839, described in her 
journal her sensation at seeing a herd of tame bears driven 
through the streets to the market place, just as cattle are 
driven elsewhere. She records. that while descending the 
Irtish she had the misfortune to fall overboard. The soldier 
escorting her was in great alarm at the accident, and fairly 
wept for joy when she was rescued. He explained through 
his tears that her death would have been a serious calamity 
to him. 

" I shall be severely punished," he said, " if any harm be- 
falls you, and, for my sake, I hope you won't try to drown 
yourself, but will keep alive and well till I get rid of you." 

Tobolsk is on the site of the Tartar settlement of Sibeer, 
from which the name of Siberia is derived. In the days of 
Genghis Khan northern Asia was overrun and wrested from 
its aboriginal inhabitants. Tartar supremacy was undisputed 
until near the close of the sixteenth century, when the Tar- 
tars lost Kazan and everything else west of the Urals. Dur- 
ing the reign of Ivan the Cruel, a difficulty arose between 
the Czar and some of the Don Cossacks, and, as the Czar did 
not choose to emigrate, the Cossacks left their country for 
their country's good. Headed by one Yermak, they retired 
to the vicinity of the Ural mountains, where they started a 
marauding business with limited liability and restricted 
capital. 



550 CONQUEST OF EASTEEN SIBERIA. 

Crossing the Urals, Yermak subjugated the country west 
of the Irtish and founded a fortress on the site of Sibeer. 
He overpowered all the Tartars in his vicinity, and received 
a pardon for himself and men in return for his conquest. 
The czar, as a mark of special fondness, sent Yermak a suit 
of armor from his own wardrobe. Yermak went one day to 
dine with some Tartar chiefs, and was arrayed for the first 
time in his new store clothes. One tradition says he was 
treacherously killed by the Tartars on this occasion, and 
thrown in the river. Another story says he fell in by acci- 
dent, and the weight of his armor drowned him. A monu- 
ment at Tobolsk -commemorates his deeds. 

No leader rose to fill Yermak' s place, and the Russians 
became divided into several independent bands. They had 
the good sense not to quarrel, and remained firm in the pur- 
suit of conquest. They pushed eastward from the Irtish and 
founded Tomsk in 1604. Ten years later the Tartars united 
and attempted to expel the Russians. They surrounded 
Tomsk and besieged it for a long time. Russia was then dis- 
tracted by civil commotions and the war with the Poles, and 
could not assist the Cossacks. The latter held out with great 
bravery, and at length gained a decisive victory. From that 
time the Tartars made no serious and organized resistance. 

Subsequent expeditions for Siberian conquest generally 
originated at Tomsk. Cossacks pushed to the north, south, 
and east, forming settlements in the valley of the Yenesei 
and among the Yakuts of the Lena. In 1639 they reached 
the shores of the Ohotsk sea, and took possession of all East- 
ern Siberia to the Aldan mountains. 

I believe history has no parallel to some features of this 
conquest. A robber-chieftain with a few hundred followers, 
— himself and his men under ban, and, literally, the first ex- 
iles to Siberia — passes from Europe to Asia. In seventy 
years these Cossacks and their descendants, with little aid 
from others, conquered a region containing nearly five million 
square miles. Everywhere displaying a spirit of adventure 
and determined bravery, they reduced the Tartars to the most 



PORTRAIT OF TERMAK. 



551 



perfect submission. The cost of their expeditions was en- 
tirely borne by individuals who sought remuneration in the 
lucrative trade they opened. The captured territory became 
Russian, though the government had neither paid for nor con- 
trolled the conquest. 

I saw the portrait and bust of Yermak, but no one could 
assure me of their fidelity. The face was thoroughly Rus- 
sian, and the lines of character were such as one might ex- 
pect from the history of the man. He was represented in 
the suit of armor he wore at his death. 




CHAPTER XLVII. 

THE evening after we passed the Irtish, a severe bouran 
arose. As the night advanced the wind increased. The 
road was filled and apparently obliterated. The yemshicks 
found it difficult to keep the track, and frequently descended 
to look for it. Each interval of search was a little longer 
than the preceding one, so that we passed considerable time 
in impatient waiting. About midnight we reached a station, 
where we were urged to rest until morning, the people declar- 
ing it unsafe to proceed. A slight lull in the storm decided 
us and the yemshicks to 1 go forward, but as we set out from 
the station it seemed like driving into the spray at the foot 
of Niagara. Midway between the station, we wandered from 
the route and appeared hopelessly lost, with the prospect of 
waiting until morning. 

Just before nightfall, we saw three wolves on the steppe, 
pointing their sharp noses in our direction, and apparently 
estimating how many dinners our horses would make. Whether 
they took the mammoth into account I cannot say, but pre- 
sume he was not considered. Wolves are numerous in all 
Siberia, and are not admired by the biped inhabitants. When 
our road seemed utterly lost, and our chances good for a bi- 
vouac in the steppe, we heard a dismal howl in a momentary 
lull of the wind. 

" Yolk," (wolf,) said the yemshick, who was clearing away 
the snow near the sleigh. 

Again we heard the sound, and saw the horses lift their 
ears uneasily. 

An instant later the fury of the wind returned. The snow 
(552) 



LOST IN THE SNOW STORM. 



553 



whirled in dense clouds, and the roaring of the tempest 
drowned all other sounds. Had there been fifty howling 
wolves, within a hundred yards of us, we could have known 
nothing until they burst upon us through the curtain of drift- 



ins: snow. 



It was a time of suspense. I prepared to throw off my 
outer garments in case we were attacked, and roused the doc- 
tor, who had been some time asleep. At the cry of "wolf," 
he was very soon awake, though he did not lose that calm 
serenity that always distinguished him. The yemshicks con- 
tinued their search for the road, one of them keeping near 
the sleigh and the other walking in circles in the vicinity. 
Our position was not enviable. 




LOST IN A SNOW STORM. 



To be served up au natural to the lupine race was never 
my ambition, and I would have given a small sum, in cash or 
approved paper, for a sudden transportation to the Astor 
House, but with my weight and substance, all the more de-' 



554 OBJECTS OP THEIR ATTACKS. 

sirable to the wolves, a change of base was not practicable. 
Our only fire-arms were a shot-gun and a pistol, the latter un- 
serviceable, and packed in the doctor's valise. Of course the 
wolves would first eat the horses, and reserve us for dessert. 
We should have felt, during the preliminaries, much like 
those unhappy persons, in the French revolution, who were 
last in a batch of victims to the guillotine. 

After long delay the road was discovered, and as the 
wolves did not come we proceeded. We listened anxiously 
for the renewal of their howling, but our ears did not catch 
the unwelcome sound. The doctor exhibited no alarm. As 
he was an old traveler, I concluded to follow his example, 
and go to sleep. 

In ordinary seasons wolves are not dangerous to men, 
though they commit more or less havoc among live stock. 
Sheep and pigs are their favorite prey, as they are easily cap- 
tured, and do not resist. Horses and cattle are overpowered 
by wolves acting in packs ; the hungry brutes displaying con- 
siderable strategy. A gentleman told me he once watched a 
dozen wolves attacking a powerful bull. Some worried him 
in front and secured his attention while others attempted to 
cut his ham-strings. The effort was repeated several times, 
the wolves relieving each other in exposed positions. At 
length the bull was crippled and the first part of the struggle 
gained. The wolves began to lick their chops in anticipation 
of a meal, and continued to worry their expected prey up to 
the pitch of exhaustion. The gentleman shot two of them 
and drove the others into the forest. He could do no more 
than put the bull out of his misery. On departing he looked 
back and saw the wolves returning to their now ready feast. 

The best parts of Russia for wolf-hunting are in the 
western governments, where there is less game and more 
population than in Siberia. It is in these regions that trav- 
elers are sometimes pursued by wolves, but such incidents 
are not frequent. It is only in the severest winters, when 
driven to desperation by hunger, that the wolves dare to at- 
tack men. The horses are the real objects of their pursuit, 



A WOLF HUNT. 555 

but when once a party is overtaken the wolves make no nice 
distinctions, and horses and men are alike devoured. Apro- 
pos of hunting I heard a story of a thrilling character. 

"It had been," said the gentleman who narrated the inci- 
dent, " a severe winter in Vitebsk and Yilna. I had spent 
several weeks at the country residence of a friend in Vitebsk, 
and we heard, during the latter part of my stay, rumors of 
the unusual ferocity of the wolves. 

One day Kanchin, my host, proposed a wolf-hunt. ' "We 
shall have capital sport,' said he, ' for the winter has made 
the wolves hungry, and they will be on the alert when they 
hear our decoy.' 

We prepared a sledge, one of the common kind, made of 
stout withes, woven like basket-work, and firmly fastened to 
the frame and runners. It was wide enough for both of us 
and the same height all around so that we could shoot in any 
direction except straight forward. We took a few furs 
to keep us warm, and each had a short gun of large bore, 
capable of carrying a heavy load of buck-shot. Rifles are not 
desirable weapons where one cannot take accurate aim. As 
a precaution we stowed two extra guns in the bottom of the 
sledge. 

The driver, Ivan, on learning the business before him, was 
evidently reluctant to go, but as a Russian servant has no 
choice beyond obeying his master, the man offered no objec- 
tion. Three spirited horses were attached, and I heard Kan- 
chin order that every part of the harness should be in the best 
condition. 

We had a pig confined in a strong cage of ropes and withes, 
that he might last longer than if dragged by the legs. A 
rope ten feet long was attached to the cage and ready to be 
tied to the sledge. 

We kept the pig in furs at the bottom of the sledge, and 
drove silently into the forest. The last order given by Kan- 
chin was to open the gates of the courtyard and hang a bright 
lantern in front. I asked the reason of this, and he replied 
with a smile : 



556 THE SPORT COMMENCES. 

" If we should be going at full speed on our return, I don't 
wish to stop till we reach the middle of the yard." 

As by mutual consent neither uttered a word as we drove 
along. We carried no bells, and there was no creaking of 
any part of the sledge. Ivan did not speak but held his reins 
taut and allowed the horses to take their own pace. In his 
secure and warm covering the pig was evidently asleep. The 
moon and stars were perfectly unclouded, and there was no 
motion of anything in the forest. The road was excellent, 
but we did not meet or pass a single traveler. I do not be- 
lieve I ever felt silence more forcibly than then. 

The forest in that region is not dense, and on either side 
of the road there is a space of a hundred yards or more en- 
tirely open. The snow lay crisp and sparkling, and as the 
country was but slightly undulating we could frequently see 
long distances. The apparent movement of the trees as we 
drove past them caused me to fancy the woods filled witli an- 
imate forms to whom the breeze gave voices that mocked us. 

About eight versts from the house we reached a cross road 
that led deeper into the forest. " Na prava" in a low voice 
from my companion turned us to the right into the road. 
Eight or ten versts further Kanchin, in the same low tone, 
commanded " Stoi." Without a word Ivan drew harder upon 
his reins, and we came to a halt. At a gesture from my 
friend the team was turned about. 

Kanchin stepped carefully from the sledge and asked me 
to hand him the rope attached to the cage. He tied this to 
the rear cross-bar, and removing his cloak told me to do the 
same. Getting our guns, ammunition, and ourselves in readi- 
ness, and taking our seats with our backs toward the driver, 
we threw out the pig and his cage and ordered Ivan to pro- 
ceed. 

The first cry from the pig awoke an answering howl in a 
dozen directions. The horses sprang as if struck with a heavy 
hand, and I felt my blood chill at the dismal sound. The 
driver with great difficulty kept his team from breaking into 
a gallop. 



THE TABLE TURNED. 557 

Five minutes later, a wolf came galloping from the forest 
on the left side where I sat. 

" Don't fire till he is quite near," said Kanchin, "we shall 
have no occasion to make long shots." 

The wolf was distinctly visible on the clean snow, and I 
allowed him to approach within twenty yards. I fired, and 
he fell. As I turned to re-load Kanchin raised his gun to 
shoot a wolf approaching the right of the sledge. His shot 
was successful, the wolf falling dead upon the snow. 

I re-loaded very quickly, and when I looked up there were 
three wolves running toward me, while as many more were 
visible on Kanchin's side. My companion raised his eyes 
when his gun was ready and gave a start that thrilled me 
with horror. Ivan was immovable in his place, and holding 
with all his might upon the reins. 

"PoshoU" shouted Kanchin. 

The howling grew more terrific. Whatever way we looked 
we could see the wolves emerging from the forest ; 

" With their long gallop, -which can the, 
The hounds' deep hate, the hunter's fire." 

Not only behind and on either side but away to the front, I 
could see their dark forms. We fired and loaded and fired 
again, every shot telling but not availing to stop the pursuit. 

The driver did not need Kanchin's shout of "poshol!" and 
the horses exerted every nerve without being urged. But 
with all our speed we could not outstrip the wolves that grew 
every moment more numerous. If we could only keep up 
our pace we might escape, but should a horse stumble, the 
harness give way, or the sledge overturn, we were hopelessly 
lost. We threw away our furs and cloaks keeping only our 
arms and ammunition. The wolves hardly paused over these 
things but steadily adhered to the pursuit. 

Suddenly I thought of a new danger that menaced us. I 
grasped Kanchin's arm and asked how we could turn the 
corner into the main road. Should we attempt it at full speed 



558 A FATAL ACCIDENT. 

the sledge would be overturned. If we slackened our pace 
the wolves would be upon us. 

I felt my friend trembling in my grasp but his voice was 
firm. 

" When I say the word," he replied, giving me his hunting 
knife, " lean over and cut the rope of the decoy. That will 
detain them a short time. Soon as you have done so lie down 
on the left side of the sledge and cling to the cords across 
the bottom." 

Then turning to Ivan he ordered him to slacken speed a 
little, but only a little, at the corner, and keep the horses 
from running to either side as he turned. This done Kan- 
chin clung to the left side of the sledge prepared to step upon 
its fender and counteract, if possible, our centrifugal force. 

We approached the main road, and just as I discovered the 
open space at the crossing Kanchin shouted, — 

" Strike !" 

I whipped off the rope in an instant and we left our decoy 
behind us. The wolves stopped, gathered densely about the 
prize, and began quarreling over it. Only a few remained to 
tear the cage asunder. The rest, after a brief halt, contin- 
ued the pursuit, but the little time they lost was of precious 
value to us. 

We approached the dreaded turning. Kanchin placed his 
feet upon the fender and fastened his hands into the net-work 
of the sledge. I lay down in the place assigned me, and 
never did drowning man cling to a rope more firmly than I 
clung to the bottom of our vehicle. As we swept around the 
corner the sledge was whirled in air, turned upon its side 
and only saved from complete oversetting by the positions of 
Kanchin and myself. 

Just as the sledge righted, and ran upon both runners, I 
heard a piercing cry. Ivan, occupied with his horses, was 
not able to cling like ourselves ; he fell from his seat, and 
hardly struck the snow before the wolves were upon him. 
That one shriek that filled my ears was all he could utter. 



SAFE AT HOME. 559 

The reins were trailing, but fortunately where they were 
not likely to be entangled. The horses needed no driver; 
all the whips in the world could not increase their speed. 




FATAL RESULT. 



Two of our guns were lost as we turned from the by-road, 
but the two that lay under me in the sledge were providen- 
tially saved. We fired as fast as possible into the dark mass 
that filled the road not twenty yards behind us. Every shot 
told but the pursuit did not lag. To-day I shudder as I think 
of that surging mass of gray forms with eyes glistening like - 
fireballs, and the serrated jaws that opened as if certain of a 
feast. 

A stern chase is proverbially a long one. If no accident 
happened to sledge or horses we felt certain that the wolves 
which followed could not overtake us. 

As we approached home our horses gave signs of lagging, 
and the pursuing wolves came nearer. One huge beast 
sprang at the sledge and actually fastened his fore paws upon 
it. I struck him over the head with my gun and he released 
his hold. 



560 THREE WOLF STORIES. 

A moment later I heard the barking of our dogs at the 
house, and as the gleam of the lantern caught my eye I fell 
unconscious to the bottom of the sledge. I woke an hour 
later and saw Kanchin pacing the floor in silence. Repeat- 
edly I spoke to him but he answered only in monosyllables. 

The next day, a party of peasants went to look for the 
remains of poor Ivan. A few shreds of clothing, and the 
cross he wore about his neck, were all the vestiges that could be 
found. For three weeks I lay ill with a fever and returned 
to St. Petersburg immediately on my recovery. Kanchin 
has lived in seclusion ever, since, and both of us were gray- 
haired within six months." 

Before the construction of the railway between Moscow 
and Nijne Novgorod there were forest guards at regular in- 
tervals to protect the road from bears and wolves. The men 
lived in huts placed upon scaffoldings fifteen or twenty feet 
high. This arrangement served a double purpose ; the guards 
could see farther than on the ground and they were safe from 
nocturnal attacks of their four-footed enemies. 

One evening at a dinner party, I heard several anecdotes 
about wolves, of which I preserve two. 

" I was once," said a gentleman, " pursued by ten or twelve 
wolves. One horse fell and we had just time to cut the 
traces of the other, Overturn our sleigh and get under as in 
a cage, before the wolves overtook us. We thought the free 
horse would run to the village and the people would come to 
rescue us. What was our surprise to see him charge upon 
the wolves, kill two with his hoofs and drive away the rest. 
When the other horse recovered we harnessed our team and 
drove home." 

"And I," said another, "was once attacked when on foot. 
I wore a new pelisse of sheep-skin and a pair of reindeer-skin 
boots. Wolves are fond of deer and sheep, and they eat 
skin and all when they have a chance. The brutes stripped 
off my pelisse and boots without harming my skin. Just as 
I was preparing to give them my woolen trousers, some peas- 
ants came to my relief." 



david Crockett's story. 561 

Although I feared my auditors would be incredulous, I 
told the story of David Crockett when treed by a hundred or 
more prairie wolves. " I shot away all my ammunition, and 
threw away my gun and knife among them, but it was no 
use. Finally, I thought I would try the effect of music and 
began to sing ' Old Hundred.' Before I finished the first 
verse every wolf put his fore paws to his ears and galloped 
off." 

My story did not produce the same results upon my audi- 
ence, but almost as marked a one, for all appreciated its 
humor, and before I had fairly finished a burst of laughter 
resounded through the room, and it was unanimously voted 
that Americans could excel in all things, not excepting Wolf 
Stories. 

36 




CHAPTER XLVIII 

THE many vehicles in motion made a good road twelve 
hours after the storm ceased. The thermometer fell 
quite low, and the sharp frost hardened the track and enabled 
the horses to run rapidly. I found the temperature varying 
from 25° to 40° below zero at different exposures. This was 
cold enough, in fact, too cold for comfort, and we were oblig- 
ed to put on all our furs. When fully wrapped I could have 
filled the eye of any match-making parent in Christendom, 
so far as quantity is concerned. The doctor walked as if 
the icy and inhospitable North had been his dwelling-place 
for a dozen generations, and promised to continue so a few 
hundred years longer. We were about as agile as a pair of 
prize hogs, or the fat boy in the side show of a circus. 

My beard -was the greatest annoyance that showed itself 
to my face, and I regretted keeping it uncut. It was in the 
way in a great. many ways. When it was outside my coat I 
wanted it in, and when it was inside it would not stay there. 
It froze to my collar and seemed studying the doctrine of 
affinity. A sudden motion in such case would pull my chin 
painfully and tear away a few hairs. It was neither long nor 
heavy, but could hold a surprising quantity of snow and ice. 
It would freeze into a solid mass, and when thawing required 
much attention. The Russian officers shave the chin habitu- 
ally, and wear their hair pretty short when traveling. I 
made a resolution to carry my beard inviolate to St. Peters- 
burg, but frequently wished I had been less rash. A mus- 
tache makes a very good portable thermometer for low tem- 
peratures. After a little practice one can estimate within a 

(562) 



NATURAL THERMOMETERS. 



563 



few degrees any stage of cold below zero, Fahrenheit. A 
mustache will frost itself from the breath and stiffen slowly 
at zero, but it does not become solid. It needs no waxing to 
enable it to hold its own when the scale descends to -10° or 
thereabouts, and when one experiences -15-° and so on down- 
ward, he will feel as if wearing an icicle on his upper lip. 
The estimate of the cold is to be based on the time required 
for a thorough hardening of this labial ornament, and of 
course the rule is not available if the face is kept covered. 

There is a traveler's story that a freezing nose in a Rus- 
sian city is seized upon and rubbed by the bystanders without 
explanation. In a winter's residence and travel in Russia I 
never witnessed that interesting incident, and am inclined to 
scepticism regarding it. The thermometer showed -53° while 
I was in St. Petersburg, and hovered near that figure for sev- 
eral days. Though I 
constantly hoped to see 
somebody's nose rubbed 
I was doomed to disap- 
pointment. I did ob- 
serve several noses that 
might have been sub- 
jected to friction, but it 
is quite probable the 
operation would have 
enraged the rabbee. 

During our coldest 
nights on the steppe we 
had the unclouded 
heavens in all their 
beauty. The stars 
shone in scintillating 
magnificence, and seemed nearer the earth than I ever saw 
them before. In the north was a brilliant aurora flashing in 
long beams of electric light, and forming a fiery arch above 
the fields of ice and snow. Oh, the splendor of those winter 




EXCUSE MY FAMILIARITY. 



564 CURIOUS RESULTS OP FROST ON HORSES. 



nights in the north ! It cannot be forgotten, and it cannot be 
described. 

Twilight is long in a Siberian winter, both at the com- 
mencement and the close of day. Morning is the best time , 
to view it. A faint glimmer appears in the quarter where 
the sun is to rise, but increases so slowly that one often 
doubts that he has really seen it. The gleam of light grows 
broader ; the heavens above it become purple, then scarlet, 
then golden, and gradually change to the whiteness of silver. 
When the sun peers above the horizon the whole scene be- 
comes dazzlingly brilliant from the reflection of his rays on 
the snow. In the coldest mornings there is sometimes a 
cloud or fog-bank resting near the earth, from the congela- 
tion and falling of all watery particles in the atmosphere. 
When the sun strikes this cloud and one looks through it the 
air seems filled with millions of microscopic gems, throwing 
off many combinations of prismatic colors, and agitated and 
mingled by some unseen force. Gradually the cloud melts 
away as it receives the direct rays of light and heat. 

The intense cold 
upon the road af- 
fects horses by coat- 
ing them with white 
frost. Their per- 
spiration congeals 
and covers them as 
one may see the 
grass covered in a 
November morn- 




FROSTED HORSES- 



ing. Nature has dressed these horses warmly, and very often 
their hair may justly be called fur. They do not appear to 
suffer from the cold ; they are never blanketed, and their 
stables are little better than open sheds. One of their an- 
noyances is the congelation of their breath, and in the cold- 
est weather the yemshicks are frequently obliged to break 
away the icicles that form around their horses' mouths. I 
have seen a horse reach the end of a course with his nose 



THE CITY OF TUMEN. 565 

encircled in a row of icy spikes, resembling the decoration 
sometimes attached to a weaning calf. 

In a clear morning or evening of the coldest days the 
smoke from the chimneys in the villages rises very slowly. 
Gaining a certain height, it spreads out as if unable to as- 
cend farther. It is always light in color and density, and 
when touched by the sun's rays appears faintly crimsoned or 
gilded. Once when we reached a small hill dominating a 
village, I could see the cloud of smoke below me agitated like 
the ground swell of the ocean. I had only a moment to look 
upon it ere we descended to the level of the street. 

I have not recorded the incidents of each day on the steppe 
in chronological order, on account of their similarity and 
monotony. Just one week after our departure from Barnaool 
we observed that the houses were constructed of pine instead 
of birch, and the country began to change in character. At 
a station where a fiery-tempered woman required us to pay 
in advance for our horses, we were only twenty versts from 
Tumen. 

It is but a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, and it is 
only a steppe (a thousand miles wide) between Tomsk and 
Tumen. Travelers from Irkutsk to St. Petersburg consider 
their journey pretty nearly accomplished on getting thus far 
along. The Siberians make light of distances that would 
frighten many Americans. " From Tumen you will have 
only sixteen hundred versts to the end of the railway," said 
a gentleman to me one day. A lady at Krasnoyarsk said I 
ought to wait until spring and visit her gold mines. I asked 
their locality, and received the reply, " Close by here ; only 
four hundred versts away. You can go almost there in a 
carriage, and will have only a hundred and twenty versts on 
horseback." 

The best portion of Tumen is on a bluff eighty or a hund- 
red feet above the river Tura. The lower town spreads over 
a wide meadow, and its numerous windmills at once remind- 
ed me of Stockton, California. We happened to arrive on 
market day, when the peasants from the surrounding country 



566 MANUFACTUEE OF CAEPETS. 

were gathered in all their glory for purposes of traffic. How 
such a lot of merchandise of nearly every kind under the 
Siberian sun could find either buyer or seller, it is difficult to 
imagine. The market-place was densely thronged, but there 
seemed to be very little traffic in progress. 

The population of Tumen is about twenty thousand, and 
said to be rapidly increasing. The town is prosperous, as its 
many new and well-built houses bear witness. It has shorn 
Tobolsk of nearly all her commerce, and left her to mourn 
her former greatness. It is about three hundred versts from 
the ridge of the Urals, and at the head of navigation on the 
Tura. Half a dozen steamers were frozen in and awaited 
the return of spring, their machinery being stored to prevent 
its rusting. 

In the public square of Tumen there was a fountain, the 
first I saw in Siberia. Men, women, boys, and girls were 
filling buckets and barrels, which they dragged away on sleds. 

When we returned from our drive, and were seated at din- 
ner, the cook brought a quantity of " Tumen carpets " for 
sale. He used all his eloquence upon me, but in vain. These 
carpets were made by hand in the villages around Tumen, 
their material being goat's hair. From their appearance I 
judged that a coarse cloth was " looped" full of thread, which 
was afterward cut to a plush surface. Some of the figures 
were quite pretty. These carpets can be found in nearly 
every peasant house in Western Siberia, where they are used 
as bed and table coverings, floor mats, and carriage robes. 

From Tumen to Nijne Novgorod the post is in the hands 
of a company, and one can buy a ticket for any distance he 
chooses. We bought to Ekaterineburg, 306 versts, paying 
nine copecks a verst for each vehicle. At the stations it is 
only necessary to show the ticket, which will bring horses 
without delay. The company has a splendid monopoly, pro- 
tected by an imperial order forbidding competition. The 
peasants would gladly take travelers at lower rates if the 
practice were permitted. The only thing they can do is to 
charter their horses to the company at about one-third the 



ARRIVAL AT EKATERINEBURG. 567 

ticket prices. Alexander would make many friends among 
the people by curtailing the monopoly. 

From the Tura the country became undulating as we ap- 
proached the Urals, but we passed no rugged hills. A great 
deal of the road lay between double rows of birch trees, that 
serve for shade in summer and do much to prevent the drift- 
ing of snow in winter. Forests of fir appeared on the slopes, 
and were especially pleasing after the half-desolation of the 
steppe. 

The villages had a larger and more substantial appearance, 
that indicated our approach to Europe. Long trains laden 
with freight from Perm, blocked the way and delayed us. A 
few collisions made our sleigh tremble, and in two instances 
turned it on its beam ends. We were ahead of the tea trains 
that left Irkutsk with the early snows, so that we passed few 
sledges going in our own direction. The second night found 
us so near Ekaterineburg that we halted a couple of hours 
for the double purpose of taking tea and losing time. 

At the last station, about six in the morning, we were 
greeted with Christmas festivities. While we waited in the 
traveler's room, two boys sung or chanted several minutes, 
and then begged for money. We gave them a few copecks, 
and their success brought two others, who were driven away 
by the smotretal. I was told that poor children have a priv- 
ilege of begging in this manner on Christmas morning. 
There are many beggars in the towns and villages of the 
Urals, and in summer there is a fair supply of highwaymen. 
Several beggars surrounded our sleigh as we prepared to de- 
part and seemed determined to make the most of the occa- 
sion. 

The undulations of the road increased, and the fir woods 
became thicker as we approached Ekaterineburg, nestled on 
the bank of the Isset. Just outside the town we passed a 
large zavod, devoted to the manufacture of candles. An im- 
mense quantity of tallow from the Kirghese steppes under- 
goes conversion into stearine at this establishment, and the 



568 ITS COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

production supplies candles to all Siberia and part of Euro- 
pean Russia. 

As we entered the slobodka and descended rapidly toward 
the river, the bells were clanging loudly and the population 
was generally on its way to church. The men were in their 
best shoobas and caps, while the women displayed the latest 
fashions in winter cloaks. Several pretty faces, rosy from 
the biting frost, peered at the strangers, who returned as 
many glances as possible. Our yemshick took us to the Hotel 
de Berlin, and, for the first time in eighteen hundred versts, 
we unloaded our baggage from the sleighs. Breakfast, a bath, 
and a change of clothes prepared me for the sights of this 
Uralian city. 

For sight-seeing, the time of my arrival was unfortunate. 
Every kind of work was suspended, every shop was closed, 
and nothing could be done until the end of the Christmas 
holidays. I especially desired to inspect the Grranilnoi Fabric , 
or Imperial establishment for stone cutting, and the machine 
shop where all steam engines for Siberia are manufactured. 
But, as everything had yielded to the general festivities, I 
could not gratify my desire. 

Ekaterineburg is on the Asiatic side of the Urals, though 
belonging to the European government ol Perm. It has a 
beautiful situation, the Isset being dammed so as to form a 
small lake in the middle of the city. Many of the best 
houses overlook this lake, and, from their balconies, one can 
enjoy charming views of the city, water, and the dark forests 
of the Urals. The principal street and favorite drive passes 
at the end of the lake, and is pretty well thronged in fine 
weather. There are many wealthy citizens in Ekaterineburg, 
as the character of the houses will attest. I was told there 
was quite a rage, among them for statuary, pictures, and other 
works of art. Special care is bestowed upon conservatories, 
some of which contain tropical plants imported at enormous 
expense. The population is about twenty thousand, and in- 
creases very slowly. 

The city is the central point of mining enterprises of the 



A PEOMINENT FAMILY. 569 

Ural mountains, and the residence of the Nachalnik, or chief 
of mines. The general plan of management is much like 
that already described at Barnaool. The government mines 
include those of iron, copper, and gold, the latter being of 
least importance. Great quantities of shot, shell, and guns 
have been made in the Urals, as well as iron work for more 
peaceful purposes. Beside the government works, there are 
numerous foundries and manufactories of a private character. 
In various parts of the Ural chain some of the zavods are of 
immense extent, and employ large numbers of workmen. 
At Nijne Tagilsk, for example, there is a population of twenty- 
five thousand, all engaged directly or indirectly in the pro- 
duction of iron. 

The sheet iron so popular in America for parlor stoves and 
stove pipe, comes from Ekaterineburg and its vicinity, and is 
made from magnetic ore. The bar iron of the Urals is 
famous the world over for its excellent qualities, and com- 
mands a higher price than any other. Great quantities of 
iron are floated in boats down the streams flowing into the 
Kama and Volga. Thence it goes to the fair at Nijne Nov- 
gorod, and to the points of shipment to the maritime mar- 
kets. 

The development of the wealth of the Urals has been 
largely due to the Demidoff family. Nikite Demidofl was 
sent by Peter the Great, about the year 1701, to examine the 
mines on both sides of the chain. He performed his work 
thoroughly, and was so well satisfied with the prospective 
wealth of the region that he established himself there per- 
manently. In return for his services, the government grant- 
ed a large tract to the Demidoffs in perpetuity. The famous 
malachite mines are on the Demidoff estate, but are only a 
small portion of the mineral wealth in the original grant. I 
have heard the Demidoff family called the richest in Russia 
— except the Romanoff. Many zavods in the Urals were 
planned and constructed by Nikite and his descendants, and 
most of them are still in successful operation and have un- 
dergone no change. 



570 GOLD MINES OF THE URALS. 

The iron works of the Urals are very extensive, and capa- 
ble of supplying any reasonable demand of individual or im- 
perial character. At Zlatoust there is a manufactory of fire- 
arms and sword blades that is said to be unsurpassed in the 
excellence of its products. The sabres from Zlatoust are of 
superior fineness and quality, rivaling the famous blades of 
Damascus and Toledo. 

Close by the little lake in Ekaterineburg is the Moneta 
Fabric, or Imperial mint, where all the copper money of Rus- 
sia is coined. It is an extensive concern, and most of its 
machinery was constructed in the city. The copper mines 
of the Urals are the richest in Russia, and possess inexhaus- 
tible wealth. Malachite — an oxide of copper — is found here 
in large quantities. I believe the only mines where malachite 
is worked are in the Urals, though small specimens of this 
beautiful mineral have been found near Lake Superior and in 
Australia. 

About twenty-five years ago an enormous mass of mala- 
chite, said to weigh 400 tons, was discovered near Tagilsk. 
It has since been broken up and removed, its value being 
more than a million roubles. Sir Roderick Murchison, while 
exploring the Urals on behalf of the Russian government, 
saw this treasure while the excavations around it were in 
progress. According to his account it was found 280 feet 
below the surface. Strings of copper were followed by the 
miners until they unexpectedly reached the malachite. Other 
masses of far less importance have since been found, some 
of them containing sixty per cent, of copper. 

The gold mines of the Ural are less extensive now than 
formerly, new discoveries not equaling the exhausted placers. 
They are principally on the Asiatic slope, in the vicinity of 
Kamenskoi. The Emperor Alexander First visited the mines 
of the Ural in 1824, and personally wielded the shovel and 
pickaxe nearly two hours. A nugget weighing twenty-four 
pounds and some ounces was afterward found about two feet 
below the point where His Majesty ' knocked off' work. A 
monument now marks the spot, and contains the tools han- 
dled by the Emperor. . . ■ ■■- 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

r HAD several commissions to execute for the purchase of 
-L souvenirs at Ekaterineburg, and lost no time in visiting 
a dealer. While we were at breakfast an itinerant merchant 
called, and subsequently another accosted us on the street. 
At ordinary times, strangers are beset by men and boys who 
are walking cabinets of semi-precious stones. A small boy 
met me in the corridor of the hotel and repeated a lapidari- 
ous vocabulary that would, have shamed a professor of mine- 
ralogy. 

At the dealer's, I was very soon in a bewildering collection 
of amethyst, beryl, chalcedony, topaz, tourmaline, jasper, 
aquamarine, malachite, and other articles of value. The 
collection numbered many hundred pieces comprising seals, 
paper weights, beads, charms for watch chains, vases, stat- 
uettes, brooches, buttons, etc. The handles of seals were cut 
in a variety of ways, some representing animals or birds, 
while a goodly portion were plain or fluted at the sides. 

The prettiest work I saw was in paper weights. There 
were imitations of leaves, flowers, and grapes in properly 
tinted stone fixed upon marble tablets either white or colored. 
Equal skill was displayed in arranging and cutting these 
stones. I saw many beautiful mosaics displaying the stones 
of the Ural and Altai mountains. 

Natural crystals were finely arranged in the shape of min- 
iature caves and grottoes. Beads were of malachite, crystal, 
topaz, and variegated marble, and seemed quite plentiful. 
Malachite is the most abundant of the half-precious stones of 
the Ural, crystal and topaz ranking next. Aquamarine was 
(571) 



572 STONE CUTTING AT EKATEEINEBUEG. 

the most valuable stone offered. It is not found in the Urals 
but comes from Eastern Siberia. 

In another establishment there were little busts of the Em- 
peror and other high personages in Russia, cut in crystal and 
topaz. I saw a fine bust of Yermak, and another of the 
elder Demidoff, both in topaz. A crystal bust of Louis Napo- 
leon was exhibited, and its owner told me it would be sent to 
the Exposition Universelle. Learning that I was an Ameri- 
can, the proprietor showed me a half completed bust of Mr. 
Lincoln, and was gratified to learn that the likeness was 
good. The bust was cut in topaz, and when finished would 
be about six inches high. 

Though no work was in progress I had opportunity to look 
through a private " fabric." Stone cutting is performed as 
by lapidaries every where with small wheels covered with 
diamond dust or emery. Each laborer has his bench and per- 
forms a particular part of the work under the direction of a 
superintendent. Wages were very low, skilled workmen be- 
ing paid less than ordinary stevedores in America. For three 
roubles, I bought a twelve sided topaz, an inch in diameter 
with the signs of the zodiac neatly engraved upon it. In 
London or New York, the cutting would have cost more than 
ten times that amount. The G-ranilnoi Fabric employs about 
a hundred and fifty workmen, but no private establishment 
supports more than twenty-five. The Granilnoi Fabric was 
to be sold in 1867, and pass out of government control. The 
laborers there were formerly crown peasants, and became 
free under the abolition ukase of Alexander II. The palace 
and Imperial museum at St. Petersburg contain wonderful 
illustrations of their skill. 

Diamonds have been sought in the Urals, and the region 
is said to resemble the diamond districts of Brazil. They have 
been found in but a single instance, and there is a suspicion 
that the few discovered on that occasion were a " plant." 

We remained two days at Ekaterineburg, repairing sleighs 
and resting from fatigue. On account of the holidays, we 
paid double prices for labor, and were charged double by dros- 

X 



ON THE MOUNTAINS. 573 

ky drivers. At the hotel, the landlord wished to follow the 
same custom, but we emphatically objected. A theatrical 
performance came off during our stay, but we were too weary 
to witness it. Near the hotel there was a " live beast show " 
almost an exact counterpart of what one sees in America. 
Music, voluble doorkeepers, gaping crowd of youngsters, and 
canvas pictures of terrific combats between beasts and snakes, 
all were there. 

According to our custom we prepared to start in the eve- 
ning for another westward stride. The thermometer was low 
enough to give the snow that crisp, metallic sound under the 
runners only heard in cold weather. We took tickets for 
Kazan, and ordered horses at nine o'clock. As we left the 
city, we passed between two monument-like posts, marking 
the gateway. 

Two or three versts away, we passed the zavod of Yerkne 
Issetskoi, an immense concern with a population sufficient to 
found a score of western cities. In this establishment is 
made a great deal of the sheet-iron that comes to America. 
The material is of so fine a quality that it can be rolled to 
the thickness of letter paper without breaking. Every thing 
at the zavod is on a grand scale even to the house of the 
director, and his facilities for entertaining guests. All was 
silent at the time of our passage, the workmen being busy 
with their Christmas festivities. , 

Leaving the zavod we were once more among the forests 
of the Urals, and riding over the low hills that form this 
part of the range. The road was good, but there were more 
oukliabas than suited my fancy. 

I was on constant lookout for the steep road leading over 
the range, but failed to find it. Before leaving New York a 
friend suggested that I should have a severe journey over the 
Ural mountains which were deeply shaded on the map we 
consulted. I can assure him it was no worse than a sleigh 
ride anywhere else on a clear, frosty night. The ascent is 
so gradual that one does not perceive it at all. Ekaterineburg 
stands eight hundred feet above the sea ; the pass, twenty- 



574 BOUNDARY BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA. 



four miles distant, is only nine hundred feet higher. The 
range is depressed at this point, but nowhere attains suffi- 
cient loftiness to justify its prominence on the maps. In 
Ekaterineburg I asked for the mountains. 

" There they are," said the person of whom I enquired, and 
he waved his hand toward a wooded ridge in the west. The 
designated locality appeared less difficult of passage than the 
hills opposite Cincinnati. 

" Don't fail to tell the yemshick to stop at the boundary." 
This was my injunction several times repeated as we 
changed horses at the first station. Eight or ten versts on 
our second course, the sleigh halted and the yemshick an- 
nounced the highest point on the road. 

I stepped from the sleigh and waded through a deep snow- 
drift to the granite obelisk erected by the first Alexander to 

mark the line between 
the two continents. It 
is a plain shaft — Bun- 
ker Hill monument in 
miniature — bearing the 
word "Europe" on 
one side, and " Asia " 
on the other. Two fir 
trees planted by His 
August Majesty are on 
opposite sides of the 
monument. 

A snow-drift in the 
middle of a frosty night 
is not the place for 
sentimental musings. I rested a foot in each of two con- 
tinents at the same moment, but could not discover any dif- 
ference in their manners, customs, or climate. 

Regaining the sleigh, I nestled into my furs, and soon fell 
asleep. I was in Europe. I had accomplished the hope and 
dream of my boyhood. But in my most romantic moments, 




EUROPE AND ASIA. 



GREAT FAIR AT IRBIT. 



575 



I had not expected to stand for the first time in Europe on 
the ridge of the Ural Mountains. 

After passing the boundary, we dashed away over the un- 
dulating road, and made a steady though imperceptible de- 
scent into the valley of the Kama. As I commenced my 
first day in Europe, the sunbeams wavered and glistened on 
the frost-crystals that covered the trees, and the flood of light 
that poured full into my opening eyes was painfully dazzling. 
Where we halted for breakfast, the station was neat and com- 
modious, and its rooms well furnished. We fared sumptu- 
ously on cutlets and eggs, with excellent bread. Just as we 
were seated in the sleigh, a beggar made a touching appeal, 
as explained by the doctor, in behalf of the prophet Elias. 




A RUSSIAN BEGGAK. 



The prophet's financial agent was of so unprepossessing ap- 
pearance that we declined investing. Beggars often ask alms 



576 A CITY OP THIEVES. 

in the interest of particular saints, and this one had attached 
himself to Elias. 

We met many sledges laden with goods en route to the fair 
which takes place every February at Irbit. This fair is of great 
importance to Siberia, and attracts merchants from all the 
region west of Tomsk. From forty to fifty million roubles 
worth of goods are exchanged there during the four weeks de- 
voted to traffic. The commodities from Siberia are chiefly 
furs and tea, those from Europe comprise a great many arti- 
cles. Irbit is on the Asiatic side of the Ural mountains, 
about two hundred versts northeast of Ekaterineburg. It is 
a place of little consequence except during the time of the 
fair. 

After entering Europe, we relied upon the stations for our 
meals, carrying no provisions with us except tea and sugar. 
We knew the peasants would be well supplied with edibles 
during Christmas holidays, and were quite safe in depending 
upon them. A traveler in Russia must consult the calendar 
before starting on a journey, if he would ascertain what pro- 
vision he may, or may not, find among the people. 

Congour was the first town of importance, and has an un- 
enviable reputation for its numerous thieves. They do not 
molest the post vehicles unless the opportunity is very favor- 
able, their accomplishments being specially exercised upon 
merchandise trains. Sometimes when trains pass through 
Congour the natives manage to steal single vehicles and their 
loads. The operation is facilitated by there being only one 
driver to five or six teams. This town is also famous for its 
tanneries, the leather from Congour having a high reputation 
throughout Russia. Peter the Great was at much trouble to 
teach the art of tanning to his subjects. At present, the 
Russians have very little to learn from others on that score. 
Peter introduced tanning from Holland and Germany, and 
when the first piece of leather tanned in Russia was brought 
to him he took it between his teeth and exerted all the 
strength of his jaws to bite through it. The leather resisted 
his efforts, and so delighted the monarch that he decreed a 

\ 



EVIDENCE OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION. 577 

pension to the successful tanner. The specimen, with the 
marks of his teeth upon it, is still preserved at St. Petersburg. 

While waiting for dinner at Congour, I contemplated some 
engravings hanging in the public room at the station. Four 
of them represented scenes in " Elizabeth, or the exiles of 
Siberia," a story which has been translated into most modern 
languages. These engravings were made in Moscow several 
years ago, and illustrated the most prominent incidents in the 
narrative. 

There were many things to remind me I was no longer in 
Siberia, and especially on the Baraba steppe. Snows were 
deeper, and the sky was clearer. The level country was re- 
placed by a broken one. Forests of pine and fir displayed 
regular clearings, and evinced careful attention. Villages 
were more numerous, larger and of greater antiquity. Sta- 
tions were better kept and had more the air of hotels. 
Churches appeared more venerable and less venerated. Beg- 
gars increased in number, and importunity. In Asia the 
yemshick was the only man at a station who asked "navodku," 
but in Europe the chelavek or starost expected to be remem- 
bered. In Asia, the gratuity was called " Navodku " or whis- 
ky money ; in Europe, it was " nachi" tea money. 

During the second night, we reached Perm and halted long 
enough to eat a' supper that made me dream of tigers and 
polar bears during my first sleep. In entering, we drove 
along a lighted street with substantial houses on either side, 
but without meeting man or beast. This street and the sta- 
tion were all I saw of a city of 25,000 inhabitants. In sum- 
mer travelers for Siberia usually leave the steamboat at this 
point, and begin their land journey, the Kama being navigable 
thus far in ordinary water. Perm is an important mining 
center, and contains several foundries and manufactories on 
an extensive scale. The doctor assured me that after the 
places I had visited in Siberia, there was nothing to be seen 
there — and I saw it. 

A deep snow had been trodden into an uneven road in this 
part of the journey. At times it seemed to me as if the 
37 



578 PLEASURES OF SLEIGH RIDING. 

sleigh and all it contained would go to pieces in the terrific 
thumps we received. We descended hills as if pursued by 
wolves or a guilty conscience, and it was generally our fate 
to find a huge oukhaba just when the horses were doing their 
best. I think the sleigh sometimes made a clear leap of six 
or eight feet from the crest of a ridge to the bottom of a hol- 
low. The leaping was not very objectionable, but the impact 
made everything rattle. I could say, like the Irishman who 
fell from a house top, " 'twas not the fall, darling, that hurt 
me, but stopping so quick at the end." 

"When the roads are rough the continual jolting of the sleigh 
is very fatiguing to a traveler, and frequently, during the first 
two or three days of his journey, throws him into what is very 
properly designated the road fever. His pulse is quick, his 
blood warm, his head aches, his whole frame becomes sore 
and stiff, and his mind is far from being serene and amiable. 
In the first part of my land journey I had the satisfaction of 
ascertaining by practical experience the exact character of 
the road fever. My brain seemed ready to burst, and appeared 
to my excited imagination about as large as a barrel ; every 
fresh jolt and thump of the vehicle gave me a sensation as if 
somebody were driving a tenpcnny nail into my skull ; as for 
good-nature under such circumstances that was out of the 
question, and I am free to confess that my temper was not 
unlike that of a bear with a sore head. 

Where the roads are good, or if the speed is not great, one 
can sleep very well in a Russian sleigh; I succeeded in ex- 
tracting a great deal of slumber from my vehicle, and some- 
times did not wake for three or four hours. Sometimes the 
roads are in such wretched condition that one is tossed to the 
height of discomfort, and can be very well likened to a lump 
of butter in a revolving churn. In such cases sleep is almost 
if not wholly, impossible, and the traveler, proceeding at cour- 
ier speed, must take advantage of the few moments' halt at 
the stations while the horses are being changed. As he has 
but ten or fifteen minutes for the change he makes good use 
of his time and sleeps very soundly until his team is ready. 



A RUSSIAN COUEIEE OVERCOME. 579 

During the Crimean war, while the Emperor Nicholas was 
temporarily sojourning at Moscow, a courier arrived one day 
with important dispatches from Sebastopol. He was commis- 
sioned to deliver them to no one but His Majesty, and waited 
in the ante-room of the palace while his name and business 
were announced. Overcome by fatigue he fell asleep ; when 
the chamberlains came to take him to the Imperial presence 
they were quite unable to rouse him. The attendants shook 
him and shouted, but to no purpose beyond making so much 
disturbance as to bring the Emperor to the ante-room. Nich- 
olas ordered them to desist, and then, standing near the officer, 
said, in an ordinary voice, " Vashe prevoschoditelstvo, loshadi 
gotovey " (Your horses are ready, your Excellency). The 
officer sprang to his feet in an instant, greatly to the delight 
of the Emperor and to his own confusion when he discovered 
where he was. 

The Russians have several popular songs that celebrate the 
glories of sleigh-riding. I give a translation of a portion of 
one of them, a song that is frequently repeated by the peas- 
ants in the vicinity of Moscow and Nijne Novgorod. It is 
proper to explain that a troika is a team of three horses 
abreast, the donga is the yoke above the shaft-horse's neck, 
and Valdai is the town on the Moscow and St. Petersburg 
road where the best and most famous bells of Russia are 
made. 

A EUSSIAN SLEIGHING SONG. 
Away, away, along the road 

The fiery troika hounds, 
"While 'neath the douga, sadly sweet, 

The Valdai bell resounds. 

Away, away, we leave the town, 

Its roofs and spires behind, 
The crystal snow-flakes dance around 

As o'er the steppe we wind. 

Away, away, the glittering stars 

Shine greeting from above, 
Our hearts beat fast as on we glide, 

Swift as the flying dove. 



CHAPTER L. 

TTTE found the road much better after leaving the gov- 
V V ernment of Perm and entering that of Viatka. The 
yemshicks we took in this region were " Votiaks," descend- 
ants of the Finnish races that dwelt there before the Rus- 
sian conquest. They had the dark physiognomy of the Finns, 
and spoke a mixture of their own language and Russian. 
They have been generally baptized and brought into the 
Greek churches, though they still adhere to some of their 
ancient forms of worship. They pay taxes to the crown, but 
their local administration is left to themselves. / 

Approaching Malmouish we had a sullen driver who in- 
sisted upon going slowly, even while descending hills. In- 
dignantly I suggested giving the fellow a kick for his drink 
money. The doctor attempted to be stern and reproved the 
delinquent, but ended with giving him five copecks and an 
injunction to do better in future. I opposed making unde- 
served gratuities, and after this occurrence determined to say 
no more about rewards to drivers during the rest of the 
journey. 

Memorandum for travelers making the Siberian tour : 

An irritable disposition, (like mine,) should not be placed 
with an amiable one, (like the doctor's.) If misery loves 
company, so does anger ; and a petulant man should have an 
associate who can be ruffled. 

After leaving the Votiaks, we entered the country of the 
Tartars, the descendants of the followers of Genghis Khan, 
who carried the Mongol standard into Central Europe. Rus- 
sia remained long under their yoke, and the Tartars of the 

(580) 



DRESS AND HABITS OF THE -TARTARS. 581 

present day live as a distinct people in various parts of the 
empire. They are nearly all Mohammedans, and the con- 
version of one of them to Christianity is a very rare occur- 
rence. My attention was called to their mosques in the vil- 
lages we passed, the construction being quite unlike that of 
the Russian churches. A tall spire or minaret, somewhat 
like the steeple of an American church, rises in the center 
of a Tartar mosque and generally overlooks the whole village. 
No bells are used, the people being called to prayer by the 
voice of a crier. 

These Tartars have none of the warlike spirit of their an- 
cestors, and are among the most peaceful subjects of the 
Russian emperor. They are industrious and enterprising, 
and manage to live comfortably. Their reputation for shrewd- 
ness doubtless gave rise to the story of the difficulty of catch- 
ing a Tartar. 

At the stations we generally found Russian smotretals with 
Tartar attendants. Blacksmiths, looking for jobs, carefully 
examined our sleighs. One found my shafts badly chafed 
where they touched the runners, and offered to iron the weak 
points for sixty copecks. I objected to the delay for prepar- 
ing the irons. " Gotovey , Gotovey ; piet minute" said the 
man, producing the ready prepared irons from one pocket 
and a hammer and nails from another. By the time the 
horses were led out the job was completed. I should have 
been better satisfied if one iron had not come off within two 
hours, and left the shaft as bare as ever. 

The Tartars speak Russian very fairly, but use the Mongol 
language among themselves. They dress like the Russians, 
or very nearly so, the most distinguishing feature being a 
sort of skull cap like that worn by the Chinese. Their hair 
is cut like a prize fighter's, excepting a little tuft on the 
crown. Out of doors they wore the Russian cap over their 
Mohammedan one — unconsciously symbolizing their subjec- 
tion to Muscovite rule. 

These Tartars drove horses of the same race as those in 
the Baraba steppe. They carried us finely where the road 



582 NEW TEAR'S DAY AT KAZAN. 

permitted, and I had equal admiration for the powers of the 
horses and the skill of their drivers. 

In the night, after passing Malmouish, the weather became 
warm. I laid aside my dehar only a half hour before the 
thermometer fell, and set me shivering. About daybreak it 
was warmer, and the increasing temperature ushered in a 
violent storm. It snowed and it blowed, and it was cold, 
frosty weather all day and all night. We closed the sleigh 
and attempted to exclude the snow, but our efforts were vain. 
The little crevices admitted enough to cover us in a short 
time, and we very soon concluded to let the wind have its 
own way. The road was filled, and in many places we had 
hard work to get through. How the yemshicks found the 
way was a mystery. Once at a station, when the smotretal 
announced " gotovey," I was actually unable to find the 
sleigh, though it stood not twenty feet from the door. The 
yemshicks said they were guided by the telegraph posts, 
which followed the line of road. 

We were four hours making twenty-five versts to the last 
station before reaching Kazan. We took a hearty supper of 
soup, eggs, and bread, under a suspicion that we might re- 
main out all night. Once the mammoth sleigh came up with 
us in the dark, and its shafts nearly ran us through. Col- 
lisions of this kind happened occasionally on the road, but 
were rarely as forcible as this one. We were twice on our 
beam ends and nearly overturned, and on several occasions 
stuck in the snow. By good luck we managed to arrive at 
Kazan about 2 A. M. On reaching the hotel, we were con- 
fronted by what I thought a snow statue, but which proved 
to be the dvornik, or watchman. Our baggage was taken up 
stairs, while we shook the snow from our furs. The samovar 
shortened our visages and filled our stomachs with tea. We 
retired to rest upon sofas and did not rise until a late hour. 

It happened to be New Year's, and the fashionable society 
of Kazan was doing its congratulations. I drove through 
the principal part of the city and found an animated scene. 
Numberless and numbered droskies were darting through the 



GRAND DUKE MICHEL AND HIS SOLDIERS. 583 

streets, carrying gayly dressed officers making their ceremon- 
ious calls. Soldiers were parading with bands of music, and 
the lower classes were out in large numbers. The storm had 
ceased, the weather was warm, and everything was propitious 
for out-door exercise. 

The soldiers were the first I had seen since entering Europe, 
and impressed me favorably with the Russian army. They 
wore grey uniforms, like those I saw in Siberia, and marched 
with a regular and steady stride. It was not till I had 
reached St. Petersburg that I saw the elite of the Emperor's 
military forces. The reforms of Alexander have not left the 
army untouched. Great improvements have been made in 
the last twelve or fifteen years. More attention has been 
paid to the private soldiers than heretofore, their pay being 
increased and time of service lessened. The Imperial family 
preserves its military character, and the present Emperor 
allows no laxity of discipline in his efforts to elevate the men 
in the ranks. 

It is said of the grand duke Michel, uncle ol Alexander 
II., that he was a most rigid disciplinarian. His great de- 
light was in parades, and he never overlooked the least irregu- 
larity. Not a button, not a moustache even, escaped his no- 
tice, and whoever was not en regie was certain to be punished. 
He is reported to have said, — 

" I detest war. It breaks the ranks, deranges the soldiers, 
and soils their uniforms."* 

* The land forces of Russia are formed of two descriptions of troops — the 
regular troops properly so called, and the feudal militia of the Cossacks and 
similar tribes. 

The regular army is recruited from the classes of peasants and artisans partly 
and principally by means of a conscription, partly by the adoption of the sons 
of soldiers, and partly by voluntary enlistment. Every individual belonging to 
these classes is, with a few exceptions, liable to compulsory service, provided he 
be of the proper age and stature. The nominal strength of the Russian army, 
according to the returns of the ministry of War, is as follows : 

1. Regular Army. Peace-footing. War-footing 

Infantry 364,422 694,511 

Cavalry 38,306 49,183 

Artillery 41,831 48,773 

Engineers 13,413 16,203 

Total 457,875 808,670 



584 MIL-ITAEY AND NAVAL STATISTICS. 

I had a letter to Colonel Molostoff, the brother of a Siber- 
ian friend and compagnon du voyage. I knew the colonel 

2. Army of First Reserve. Peace-footing. War-footing. 

Troops of the line 80,455 74,561 

Garrison in regiments 80,455 23,470 

Garrison in battalions 19,830 29,862 

Total 100,285 127,925 

3. Army of Second Reserve. 

Troops of all arms 254,036 199,380 

General total 812,096 1,135,975 

Among the irregular troops of Russia, the most important are the Cossacks. 
The country of the Don Cossacks contains from 600,000 to 700,000 inhabitants. 
In case of necessity, every Cossack, from 15 to 60 years, is bound to render mili- 
tary service. The usual regular military force, however, consists of 54 cavalry 
regiments, each numbering 1,044 men, making a total of 56,376. The Cossacks 

are reckoned in round numbers as follows : 

In Military 
Heads. service. 

On the Black Sea 125,000 18,000 

Great Russian Cossacks on the Caucasian Line.. .150,000 18,000 

Don Cossacks 440,000 66,000 

Ural Cossacks 50,000 8,000 

Orenburg Cossacks 60,000 10,000 

Siberian Cossacks 50,000 9,000 

Total 875,000 129,000 

The Russian navy consists of two great divisions — the fleet of the Baltic and 
that of the Black Sea. Each of these two fleets is again subdivided into sec- 
tions, of which three are in or near the Baltie and three in or near the Black 
Sea, to which must be added the small squadrons of galleys, gunboats, and sim- 
ilar vessels. 

According to an official report, the Russian fleet consisted last year of 290 
steamers, having 38,000 horse power, with 2,205 guns, besides 29 sailing vessels, 
with 65 guns. The greater and more formidable part of this navy was stationed 
in the Baltic. The Black Sea fleet numbered 43 ; the Caspian, 39 ; the Siberian 
or Pacific, 30 ; and the Lake Aral or Turkistan squadron, 1 1 vessels. The rest 
of the ships were either stationed at Kronstadt and Sweaborg or engaged in 
cruising in European waters. 

The iron-clad fleet of war consisted, at the commencement of 1868, of 24 ves- 
sels, with an aggregate of 149 guns, as follows : 

2 Erigates, one of 1 8, and one of 24 guns 42 guns. 

3 Floating Batteries of 14, 16, and 27 guns 57 guns. 

2 Corvettes of 8 guns 16 guns. 

6 Monitors of 2 guns each, 12 guns. 

11 Turret ships of 2 guns each 22 guns. 

Total, 24 iron-clads with 149 guns. 

The Imperial navy was manned at the beginning of 1868 by 60,230 sailors 
and marines, under the command of 3,791 officers, among whom are 119 ad- 
mirals and generals. * 



A BRILLIANT ASSEMBLAGE. 585 

would not Toe at home on the first day of the year, as he had 
many relatives and friends to visit. So I sent the letter to 
his house, and accompanied Schmidt on a call upon Dr. 
Freeze, a prominent physician of Kazan. Madam Freeze 
was a native of Heidelburg, and evidently loved the Rhine 
better than the Volga. She gave me a letter to her brother 
in Moscow, where she promised me an introduction to a niece 
of the poet Goethe. 

In the evening Colonel Molostoff called at the hotel and 
took me to the New Year's ball of the nobility of Kazan. 
There was a maze of apartments belonging to the nobility 
club, — the dancing room being quite as elegant and as spa- 
cious as the large hall of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. I found 
files of English, French, and German papers in the reading- 
room, and spent a little while over the latest news from Ame- 
rica. The male portion of the assemblage consisted of offi- 
cers and civilians, the former in the majority. There was a 
perfect blaze of stars and gay uniforms, that quite outshone 
the evening dress of the civilians. As Kazan is old, popu- 
lous, and wealthy, it is needless to add that the ladies were 
dressed just like those of St. Petersburg or Paris. 

I was introduced to several officials, among them the gov- 
ernor, who had recently assumed command. Colonel Molos- 
toff introduced me to three ladies who spoke English, but 
hardly had I opened conversation with the first before she 
was whisked away into the dance. The second and the third 
followed the same fate, and I began to look upon ball-room 
acquaintance as an uncertainty. 

" Now," said the colonel, " I will introduce you to one who 
is not young, but she is charming, and does not dance." We 
went to seek her, but she was in the midst of a gay party 
just preparing for a visit to the lunch room. 

I was so utterly wearied after my long ride that conversa- 
tion was a great effort, and I could hardly keep my eyes from 
closing. I had promised to join a supper party at three 
o'clock, but midnight found me just able to stand. Fearful 
that I might bring discredit upon America by going to sleep 



586 CONQUEST OP KAZAN BY THE EUSSIANS. 

during the festivities, I begged an excuse and returned to my 
hotel. Five minutes after entering my room I was in the 
land of dreams. 

In the treasury of the Kremlin of Moscow the royal crown 
of Kazan is preserved. The descendants of Genghis Khan 
founded the city and made it the seat of their European 
power. For three centuries it remained a menace to Russia, 
and held the princes of Muscovy in fear and dread. But as 
the Russians grew in strength Kazan became weaker, and 
ultimately fell under the Muscovite control. Ivan the Terri- 
ble determined to drive the Tartars from the banks of the 
Volga. After three severe and disastrous campaigns, and a 
siege in which assailant and assailed displayed prodigies of 
valor, Kazan was stormed and captured. The kingdom was 
overthrown, and the Russian power extended to the Urals. 
The cruelties of Ivan the Terrible were partially forgiven in 
return for his breaking the Tartar yoke. 

A pyramidal monument marks the burial place of the Rus- 
sians who fell at the capture of the city, and the positions of 
the besiegers are still pointed out ; but I believe no traces 
of the circumvallation are visible. The walls of the Tartar 
fortress form a part of the present Kremlin, but have been so 
rebuilt and enlarged that their distinctive character is gone. 

Nicholas called Kazan the third capital of his empire, and 
the city is generally admitted first in importance after St. 
Petersburg and Moscow. Its position is well chosen on the 
banks of a small river, the Kazanka, which joins the Volga 
six versts away. On a high bluff stretching into a plateau 
in the rear of the city and frowning defiantly toward the west, 
its position is a commanding one. On the edge of this bluff 
is the Kremlin, with its thick and high walls enclosing the 
governor's palace and other public buildings, all overlooked 
by a lofty bell-tower. Every part of the city gives evidence 
of wealth. 

The population is about sixty thousand, including, I pre- 
sume, the military garrison. There are twelve or fifteen 
thousand Tartars, who live in a quarter of the city specially 



MANUFACTURES AND SCHOOLS OF KAZAN. 587 

assigned them. They are said to be industrious and peace- 
ful, and some of them have amassed great wealth. I saw a 
Tartar merchant at the ball on New Year's eve, and was told 
that his fortune was one of the best in Kazan. I can testify 
personally to the energy of Tartar peddlers. On my first 
morning at the hotel I was visited by itinerant dealers in 
hats, boots, dressing gowns, and other articles of wear. The 
Tartars at Moscow are no less active than their brethren of 
Kazan, and very shrewd in their dealings. Every one of 
them appears to believe that strangers visit Russia for the 
sole purpose of buying dressing gowns. 

I took a drive through the Tartar quarter, or Katai Gforod, 
of Kazan, and inspected (but did not read) the signs over 
the shops. The houses are little different from those in the 
Russian quarter, and the general appearance of the streets 
was the same. I glanced at several female faces in defiance 
of Mohammedan law, which forbids women unveiling before 
strangers. On one occasion when no Tartar men were visi- 
ble, a young and pretty woman removed her veil and evident- 
ly desired to be looked at. I satisfied my curiosity, and ex- 
pressed admiration in all the complimentary Russian adjec- 
tives I could remember. 

As we passed a butcher's shop, my isvoshchik intimated 
that horse meat was sold there. The Tartars are fond of 
equine flesh, and prefer it to beef. On the Kirghese steppes 
the horse is prominent in gastronomic festivities. 

Kazan is famous throughout Russia for the extent and 
variety of its manufactures. Russians and Tartars are alike 
engaged in them, and the products of their industry bear a 
good reputation. The city has printing establishments on an 
extensive scale, one of them devoted to Tartar literature. 
Several editions of the Koran have been printed here for the 
faithful in Northern and Central Asia. 

The University of Kazan is one of the most celebrated in- 
stitutions of learning in Russia, and has an excellent board 
of professors. Special attention is devoted to the Asiatic 
languages and literature, but no other branch of knowledge 



588 POLICE SECRETS IN RUSSIA. 

is neglected. I met the Professor of Persian literature, and 
found him speaking English and French fluently. I was in- 
vited to look through the museum and cabinet attached to 
the university, but time did not permit. There is a ladies' 
seminary in equally good reputation for its educational facil- 
ities. 

One morning, about two weeks before my arrival at Kazan, 
the early risers passing this seminary discovered the body of 
a young man hanging upon the fence. It was clad only in a 
shirt, and no other clothing could be found. No one recog- 
nized the features of the individual, and the occupants of the 
seminary professed utter ignorance of the affair. As might 
be expected, great excitement followed the discovery. Visits 
of the sterner sex were absolutely forbidden, and the young 
maidens in the building were placed under surveillance. The 
gentleman who told me the story, said : 

" It is very strange, especially as the public can learn noth- 
ing about the young man's identity." 

While conversing with a high official at Nijne Novgorod, a 
few days later, I referred to this affair and expressed my sur- 
prise that the police could not trace it out. 

" That is to say," he replied, with a shrug of the shoulders, 
"that the police have suppressed the particulars. It is a 
scandalous occurrence that may as well be kept from the 
public." 

One thing was quite certain : if the police thought proper 
to conceal the details of this affair, there was no likelihood 
of their publication. In Russia the police exercise a power 
much greater* than in the United States. Those who have 
visited France and Austria can form a pretty correct idea of 
the Russian system, the three countries being nearly alike in 
this respect. The police has supervision over the people in 
a variety of ways ; controls the fire department, looks after 
the general health, and provides for the well-being of society. 
Every man, woman, and child is considered under its surveil- 
lance, and accounted for by some member of the force. 
Passports are examined by the police, and if en regie, the 



DETECTIVE POLICE. 589 

owners are not likely to be troubled. Taxes are collected, 
quarrels adjusted, and debts paid through its agency. 

Almost everybody has heard of the secret police of Russia, 
and many questions have been asked me about it. I cannot 
throw much light upon it, and if I could it would not be a 
secret police. I never knowingly came in contact with the 
shadow, neither did I have the slightest reason to fear it. If 
my letters were opened and read, those familiar with my 
manuscript will agree that the police had a hard time of it. 
If anybody dogged my steps or drew me into conversation to 
report my opinions at the bureau secret, I never knew it. The 
servants who brought my cutlets and tea, the woman who 
washed my linen, or the dvornik who guarded the door, may 
have been spies upon me ; but, if so, I didn't see it. Where 
ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. 

People talk politics in Russia with apparent freedom, more 
so than I expected to find. Men and women expressed their 
opinions with candor (as I believe,) and criticised what they 
saw wrong in their government. The Russian journals pos- 
sess more freedom than those of Paris, and the theatres can 
play pretty nearly what they like. Official tyranny or dis- 
honesty can be shown up by the press or satirized on the 
stage more freely and safely than in the country of Napoleon 
Third, with all its boasted freedom. 

I once read a story in which an Englishman in Austria is 
represented saying to his companion, " No gentleman med- 
dles with the politics of the countries he visits." I made it 
my rule in Russia never to start the subject of politics in 
conversation with anybody. Very often it was started, and 
I then spoke as freely as I would have spoken in New York. 
If my opinion was asked upon any point, I gave it frankly, 
but never volunteered it. I believe the Golden Rule a good 
one for a traveler. "We Americans would think it very rude 
for a foreigner to come here and point out to us our faults. 
But for all that, a great many of us visit Europe and have no 
hesitation in telling the subjects of the various monarchies a 
variety of impolite truths. 



590 THE EMPEROR AND THE ACTOR. 

During the reign of Nicholas, the secret police was much 
more extensive than at present. The occurrences of 1825 
and subsequent years led to a close surveillance of men in 
all stations of life. It was said under Nicholas that when 
three men were assembled, one was a spy and another might 
be. Doubtless the espionage was rigid, but I never heard 
that it affected those who said or did nothing objectionable. 
Under Alexander II. the stability of the throne hardly re- 
quires the aid of a detective force, and, if what I was told be 
true, it receives very little. 

The police have a standing order to arrest any person who 
speaks to the Emperor in the promenade at the Public Gar- 
den. One day Nicholas recognized in the crowd a favorite 
comedian, and accosted him with a few words of encourage- 
ment. The actor thanked his majesty for his approval, and 
the two separated. A stupid policeman arrested the actor, 
and hurried him to prison on the charge of violating the law. 

" But the emperor spoke to me first," was the apology. 

" No matter," replied the policeman ; " you spoke to the 
emperor, and must be arrested." 

At the theatre that evening Nicholas was in the imperial 
box, utterly ignorant of what had occurred "to his favorite. 
The performance was delayed, the audience impatient, man- 
ager frantic, and .the emperor finally sent to know the cause 
of the curtain remaining down. The actor did not come, and 
after waiting some time, His Majesty went home. Next 
morning the prisoner was released, and during the day the 
emperor learned what had occurred. Sending for the victim 
of police stupidity, he asked what reparation could be made 
for his night in prison. 

" I beg your majesty," was the frank request, " never to 
speak to me again in the Public Garden." 

Nicholas promised compliance. He also made a pecuniary 
testimonial at the comedian's next benefit. 



CHAPTER LI. 

DR. SCHMIDT sold his sleigh and left Kazan by dili- 
gence the day after our arrival. I remained four days, 
and, when ready to start, managed to pick up a young Rus- 
sian who was going to Nijne Novgorod. Each of us spoke 
two languages, but we had no common tongue. I brushed 
up all the Russian I had learned, and compelled it to perform 
very active service. Before our companionship ended I was 
astonished to find what an extensive business of conversation 
could be conducted with a limited capital of words. 

Our communications were fragmentary and sometimes ob- 
scure, but we rarely became " hopelessly stuck." When my 
knowledge of spoken words failed I had recourse to a " Man- 
ual of Russian-English conversation," in which there were 
phrases on all sorts of topics. Examining the book at leisure 
one would think it abundantly fertile ; but when I desired a 
particular phrase it was rarely to be found. As a last re- 
source we tried Latin, but I could not remember a hundred 
words out of all my classics. 

A regular thaw had set in, and the streets were in a con- 
dition of ' slosh ' that reminded me of Broadway in spring. 
When we left the hotel, a crowd of attendants gathered to be 
remembered pecuniarily. The yemshick tied his horses' tails 
in the tightest of knots to prevent their filling with snow and 
water. At the western gate we found a jam of sleds and 
sleighs, where we stuck for nearly half an hour, despite the 
efforts of two soldier policemen. When able to proceed we 
traversed a high causeway spanning the Kazanka valley and 
emerged into a suburb containing a large foundry. A mosque 

(591) 



592 NAVIGATION OF THE YOLGA. 

and a church, side by side, symbolized the harmony between 
Tartar and Russian. 

Passing this suburb we reached the winter station of many 
steamboats and barges, among which we threaded our way. 
Seven versts from Kazan we reached the bank of the Volga. 

The first view of the road upon the river was not inviting. 
There were many pools of surface water, and the continuous 
travel had worn deep hollows in the snow and ice. Some of 
the pools into which our yemshick drove appeared about as 
safe as a mill-pond in May. As the fellow ought to know his 
route I said nothing, and let him ha've his own way. We 
met a great many sleds carrying merchandise, and passed a 
train going in our direction. One driver carelessly riding on 
his load was rolled overboard, and fell sidewise into a deep 
mass of snow and water. He uttered an imprecation, and 
rose dripping like a boiled cabbage just lifted out of a din- 
ner pot. 

We headed obliquely across the river toward a dozen tow- 
boats frozen in the ice. The navigation of the Yolga em- 
ploys more than four hundred steamers, three-fourths of which 
are tows. Dead walls in Kazan frequently displayed flaming 
announcements, that reminded me of St. Louis and New Or- 
leans. The companies run a sharp rivalry in freight and 
passenger traffic, their season lasting from April to October. 
The gross receipts for 1866 of one company owning thirty- 
four boats, was one million, two hundred and fifty-three thou- 
sand, and some odd roubles. This, after deducting running 
expenses, would not leave a large amount of profit. The 
surplus in the case of that company was to be applied to pay- 
ing debts. " Not a copeck," said my informant, " will the 
stockholders receive in the shape of dividends." 

I did not obtain any full and clear information touching 
the navigation of the Volga. The steamboats run from Tver, 
on the Moscow and St. Petersburg railway, to Astrachan, at 
the mouth of the river. The best part of the business is the 
transport of goods and passengers, — chiefly the former, — to 
the fair at Nijne Novgorod. The river is full of shifting 



A ROUTE BADLY MIXED. 593 

sand-bars, and the channel is very tortuous, especially at low- 
water. The first company to introduce steam on the Yolga 
was an English one. Its success induced many Russians to 
follow its example, so that the business is now over done. 

Here, as in the Siberian rivers, the custom prevails of car- 
rying freight in barges, which are towed by tugs. All the 
steamers I saw were side- wheelers. 

We changed horses on the south bank of the Yolga, only 
twelve versts from Kazan. The right bank of the river pre- 
sents an unbroken '"^ ~>f hills or bluffs, while the opposite 
cue i t summer road from Kazan west- 

the vicinity of the river, but 
L °r road is over the ice 
, keeping near the bank. A 

double line of pine or o. : ^e marks the 

route. These boughs are pW '~ation of 

Roads, under whose supervision the '^ed. 

No one is allowed to travel on the ice a. 
clare it safe. 

Night came upon us soon after passing the firs 
The road was a combination of pitch-holes, water, soft £ 
and detours to avoid dangerous places. The most unpleasan. 
drives were when we left the river to change horses at the 
villages on the high bank. It was well enough going up, but 
in descending the sleigh sometimes endeavored to go ahead 
of the horses. Once we came near going over a perpendic- 
ular bank sixty or eighty feet high. Had we done so, our 
establishment would have not been worth fifty cents a bushel 
at the bottom of the bank. 

Back from the Yolga on this part of the route there were 
many villages of Cheramess, a people of Tartar descent who 
preserve many of their ancient customs. They are thorough- 
ly loyal to Russia, and keep the portrait of the emperor in 
nearly every cottage. In accordance with their custom of 
veiling women they hang a piece of gauze over the picture of 
the empress. 



594 



BEGGARS AND MERCHANDISE, 



While changing horses, we were beset by many beggars, 
whose forlorn appearance entitled them to sympathy. I pur- 
chased a number of blessings, as each beggar made the sign 
of the cross over me on receiving a copeck. Russian beg- 
gars are the most devout I ever saw, and display great famil- 
iarity with the calendar of saints. One morning at Kazan I 
stood at my hotel window watching a beggar woman solicit- 




BEGGAKS IN KAZAN. 



ing alms. Several poorly dressed peasants gave her each a 
copeck or two, and both giver and receiver made the sign of 
the cross. One decrepid old man gave her a loaf of bread, 
blessing it devoutly as he placed it in her hands. So far as 
I saw not a single well dressed person paid any attention to 
the mendicant. ' Only the poor can feel for the poor.' 



APTIZING THROUGH THE ICE, 



595 



We encountered a great deal of merchandise, carried in- 
variably upon one-horse sleds. Cotton and wool in large 
sacks were the principal freight going westward, while that 
moving toward Kazan was of a miscellaneous character. 
The yemshicks were the worst I found on the whole extent 
of my sleigh ride. They generally contented themselves 
with the regulation speed, and it was not often that the 
promise of drink-money affected them. I concluded that 
money was more easily obtained here than elsewhere on the 
route. Ten copecks were an important item to a yemshick 
in Siberia, but of little consequence along the Volga. 

Villages were numerous along the Volga, and most of them 
were very liberally supplied with churches. We passed Ma- 
karief, 




THE IMMERSION. 



and in 1816 the fair was transferred to Nijne Novgorod. 
One of the villages has a church spire that leans considera- 
bly toward the edge of the river. 

About fifty versts from Nijne Novgorod the population of a 



596 RELIGION IN RUSSIA. 

large village was gathered, in Sunday dress, upon the ice. 
A baptism was in progress, and as we drove past the assem- 
blage we caught a glimpse of a man plunging through a 
freshly cut hole. Half a minute later he emerged from the 
crowd and ran toward the nearest house, the water dripping 
from his garments and hair. As we passed around the end 
of the village, I looked back and saw another person running 
in the same direction. 

Converts to the Russian church are baptized by immersion, 
and, once received in its bosom, they continue members until 
death do them part. What I have said of the church in Si- 
beria will apply throughout all Russia. The government is 
far more tolerant in the matter of religion than that of any 
Roman Catholic country in Europe, and might reprove Great 
Britain pretty sharply for its religious tyrannies in unhappy 
Ireland. Every one in Russia can worship God according to 
the dictates of his own conscience, provided he does not 
shock the moral sense of civilization in so doing. Every re- 
spectable form of Christian worship enjoys full liberty, and 
so does every respectable form of paganism and anti-Chris- 
tianity. The Greek faith is the acknowledged religion of the 
government, and the priests, by virtue of their partly official 
character, naturally wield considerable power. The abuse or 
undue employment of that power is not (theoretically) per- 
mitted, however much the church may manifest its zeal. 
Every effort is made to convert unbelievers, but no man is 
forced to accept the Greek faith. 

Traveling through Russia one may see many forms of wor- 
ship. He will find the altars of Shamanism, the temples of 
Bhudha, the mosques of Islam, and the synagogues of Israel. 
On one single avenue of the Russian capital he will pass in 
succession the churches of the Greek, the Catholic, the Ar- 
menian, the Lutheran, and the Episcopal faith. He will be 
told that among the native Russians there are nearly fifty 
sects of greater or less importance. There are some advan- 
tages in belonging to the church of state, just as in England, 
but they are not essential. I am acquainted with officers in 



THE OLD BELIEVERS. 597 

the military, naval, and civil service of the government who 
are not, and never have been, members of the Greek church. 
I never heard any intimation that their religion had been the 
least bar to their progress. 

The Pope, in his encyclical of October, 1867, complains of 
the conduct of the Russian government toward the Catholics 
in Poland. No doubt Alexander has played the mischief 
with the Pope's faithful in that quarter, but not on account 
of their religion. In Warsaw a Russian officer, a Pole by 
birth, told me of the misfortunes that had fallen upon the 
Catholic monastery and college in that city. " We found in 
the insurrection," said the officer, " that the monks were en- 
gaged in making knives, daggers, cartridges, and other weap- 
ons. The priests were the active men of the rebellion, and 
did more than any other class to urge it forward, and here is 
a specimen of iron-mongery from the hands of the monks. 
We found two hundred of these in the college recently sup- 
pressed. Many more were distributed and used." 

As he spoke he opened a drawer and showed me a short 
dagger fitting into a small handle. The point of the blade 
had been dipped in poison, and was carefully wrapped in pa- 
per. The instrument was used by sticking it into somebody 
in a crowd, and allowing it to remain. Death was pretty 
certain from a very slight scratch of this weapon. 

If this gentleman's story is correct, and it was corroborat- 
ed by others, the Russian persecution of the Polish Catholics 
is not entirely without reason. 

Among the dissenters in the Greek church there is a body 
called Staroviersty (Old Believers). The difference between 
them and the adherents of the orthodox faith is more ritual- 
istic than doctrinal. Both make the sign of the cross, though 
each has its own way of holding the fingers in the operation. 
The Staroviersty do not use tobacco in any form, and their 
mode of life is generally quite rigid. Under Catherine and 
Paul they were persecuted, and, as a matter of course, in- 
creased their numbers rapidly. For the past sixty years op- 
pression has been removed, and they have done pretty nearly 



598 



DIMINISHING THE POWER OF PEIESTS. 



as they liked. They are found in all parts of the empire, 
but are most numerous in the vicinity of the Ural mountains. 
Russia has its share of fanatical sects, some of whom push 
their religion to a wonderful extreme. One sect has a way 
of sacrificing children by a sort of slow torture in no way 
commendable. Another sect makes a burnt offering of some 
of its adherents, who are selected by lot. They enter a house 
prepared for the occasion, and begin a service of singing and 
prayer. After a time spent in devotions, the building is set 
on fire and consumed with its occupants. Another sect which 
is mentioned elsewhere practices the mutilation of masculine 

believers, and steals children for 
adoption into their families. 
Against all these fanatics the 
government exercises its despot- 
ic power. 

The peasants are generally 
very devout, and keep all the 
days of the church with becom- 
ing reverence. There is a story 
that a moujik waylaid and killed 
a traveler, and while rifling the 
pockets of his victim found a 
cake containing meat. Though 
very hungry he would not eat 
the cake, because meat was for- 
bidden in the fast then in force. 
The government is endeavor- 
ing to diminish the power and 
influence of the priests, and the 
number of saints' days, when 
men must abstain from labor. 
Heretofore the priests have enjoyed the privilege of recruit- 
ing the clergy from their own members. When a village 
priest died his office fell to his son, and if he had no male 
heir the revenues went to his eldest daughter until some 
priest married her and took charge of the parish. By spec- 




EUSSIAN PRIEST. 



END OF A LONG SLEIGH RIDE. 599 

ial order of the emperor any vacancy is hereafter to be filled 
by the most deserving candidate. 

It is said that during the Crimean war the governor of 
Moscow notified the pastor of the English church in that city 
that the prayer for the success of Her Brittanic Majesty's 
armies must be omitted. The pastor appealed to the emperor, 
who replied that prayers of regular form might continue to 
be read, no matter what they contained. The governor made 
no further interference. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon of the second day 
from Kazan, the yemshick pointed out the spires of Nijne 
Novgorod, on the southern bank of the Yolga. A fleet of 
steamers, barges, and soudnas lay sealed in the ice along the 
shore, waiting for the moving of the waters. The road to 
the north bank was marked with pine boughs, that fringed 
the moving line of sleighs and sledges. We threaded our 
way among the stationary vessels, and at length came before 
the town. A friend had commended me to the Hotel de la 
Poste, and I ordered the yemshick to drive there. With an 
eye to his pocket the fellow carried me to an establishment 
of the same name on the other side of the Oka. I had a sus- 
picion that I was being swindled, but as they blandly informed 
me that no other hotel with that title existed, I alighted and 
ordered my baggage up. 

This was the end of my sleigh ride. I had passed two 
hundred and nine stations, with as many changes of horses 
and drivers. Nearly seven hundred horses had been attached 
to my sleigh, and had drawn me over a road of greatly varied 
character. Out of forty days from Irkutsk, I spent sixteen 
at the cities and towns on the way. I slept twenty-six nights 
in my sleigh with the thermometer varying from thirty-five 
degrees above zero to forty-five below, and encountered four 
severe storms and a variety of smaller ones. Including the 
detour to Barnaool, my sleigh ride was about thirty-six hund- 
red miles long. From Stratensk by way of Kiachta to Ir- 
kutsk, I traveled not far from fourteen hundred miles with 
wheeled vehicles, and made ninety-three changes. My whole 



600 VIEW OP NIJNE NOYGOEOD. 

ride from steam navigation on the Amoor to the railway at 
Nijne Novgorod was very nearly five thousand miles. 

There was a manifest desire to swindle ' me at the bogus 
Hotel de la Poste. Half a dozen attendants carried my bag- 
gage to my room, and each demanded a reward. When I 
gave the yemshick his " na vodka," an officious attendant 
suggested that the gentleman should be very liberal at the 
end of his ride. I asked for a bath, and they ordered a sleigh 
to take me to a bathing establishment several squares away. 
My proposition to be content for the present with a wash basin 
was pronounced impossible, until I finished the argument 
with my left boot. The waiter finally became affectionate, 
and when I ordered supper he suggested comforts not on the 
bill of fare. The landlord proposed to purchase my sleigh 
and superfluous furs, and we concluded a bargain at less than 
a twelfth of their cost. 

After a night's rest I recrossed the Oka and drove to the 
town. Here I found the veritable Hotel de la Poste, to which 
I immediately changed my quarters. The house overlooked 
a little park enclosing a pond, where a hundred or more per- 
sons were skating. The park was well shaded, and must be 
quite pleasant in summer. The town hardly deserves the 
name of Nijne (Lower) Novgorod, as it stands on a bluff 
nearly two hundred feet above the river. Its lower town 
contains little else than small shops, storehouses, poor hotels, 
and steamboat offices. The Kremlin, or fortress, looks down 
from a very picturesque position, and its strong walls have a 
defiant air. Prom the edge of the bluff the view is wide ; 
the low field and forest land on the opposite side of the river, 
the sinuous Volga and its tributary, the Oka, are all visible 
for a long distance. Opposite, on a tongue of land between 
the Volga and the Oka, is the scene of the fair of Nijne Nov- 
gorod, the greatest, I believe, in the world. 

There are many fine houses in the upper town, with indi- 
cations of considerable wealth. I had a letter of introduction 
to the Chief of Police, Colonel Kretegin, who kindly showed 
me the principal objects of interest in, and around the Krem- 







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THE FAIR GROUNDS. 601 

lin. The monument to the memory of Minin Sukhoruky 
possessed the greatest historical importance. This man, a 
peasant and butcher, believed himself called to deliver Rus- 
sia from the Poles in 1612. He awakened his countrymen, 
and joined a Russian noble in leading them to expel the in- 
vaders. A bronze monument at Moscow represents Minin 
starting on his mission. The memorial at Nijne is of a less 
elaborate character. 

We drove through the fair grounds, which were as empty 
of occupants as Goldsmith's deserted village. It is laid out 
like a regular town or city, and most of its houses are sub- 
stantially built. So much has been written about this com- 
mercial center that I will not attempt its description, espec- 
ially as I was not there in fair season. The population of 
the town — ordinarily forty thousand — becomes three hundred 
thousand during the fair. More than half a million persons 
have visited the city in a single summer, and the value of 
goods sold or exchanged during each fair is about two hund- 
red millions of roubles. 

Colonel Krctegin told me that the members of the Fox 
embassy were much astonished at finding American goods for 
sale at Nijne Novgorod. It would be difficult to mention any 
part of the civilized world where some article of our manu- 
facture has not penetrated. 



CHAPTER LI I. 

AT the close of the second day at Nijne Novgorod I 
started for Moscow. As we drove from the hotel to 
the railway the jackdaws, perched everywhere on the roofs, 
were unusually noisy. Leaving Asia and entering Europe, 
the magpie seemed to give place to the jackdaw. The latter 
bird inhabits the towns and cities east of the Ural mountains, 
and we frequently saw large flocks searching the debris along 
the Yolga road. He associates freely with the pigeon, and 
appears well protected by public sentiment. Possibly his un- 
eatable character and his fancied resemblance to the pigeon 
saves him from being knocked in the head. Pigeons are very 
abundant in all Russian cities, and their tameness is a matter 
of remark among foreign visitors. 

The railway station is across the Oka and near the site of 
the annual fair. We went at a smashing pace down hill and 
over the ice to the other side, narrowly missing several col- 
lisions. At the railway I fell to the charge of two porters, 
who carried my baggage while I sought the ticket office. A 
young woman speaking French officiated at the desk, and 
furnished me with a billet de voyage to Moscow. 

In the waiting room a hundred or more persons were 
gathered. The men were well wrapped in furs, and among 
the ladies hoods were more numerous than bonnets. Three- 
fourths of the males and a third of the females were smoking 
cigarettes, and there was no prohibition visible. In accord- 
ance with the national taste the chief article sold at the buf- 
fet was hot tea in tumblers. 

Some one uttered "Sibeerski" as, clad in my dehar, I 

(602) 



A LUXURIOUS RIDE. 603 

walked past a little group. To keep up appearances and kill 
time I drank tea, until the door opened and a rush was made 
for the train. There is an adage in Germany that three 
kinds of people — fools, princes, and Americans — travel first 
class. To continue Russian pretences, and by the advice of 
a friend, I took a second class ticket, and found the accom- 
modation better than the average of first class cars in Ame- 
rica. 

How strange was the sensation of railway travel ! Since 
I last experienced it, I had journeyed more than half around 
the globe. I had been tossed on the Pacific and adjacent 
waters, had ascended the great river of northern Asia, had 
found the rough way of life along the frozen roads beyond 
the Baikal, and ended with that long, long ride over Siberian 
snows. I looked back through a long vista of earth and 
snow, storm and sunshine, starlight and darkness, rolling sea 
and placid river, rugged mountains and extended plains. 

The hardships of travel were ended as I reached the land 
of railways, and our motion as we sped along the track 
seemed more luxurious than ever before. Contrasted with 
the cramped and narrow sleigh, pitching over ridges and oc- 
casionally overturning, the carriage where I sat appeared the 
perfection of locomotive skill. How sweet is pleasure after 
pain. Sunshine is brightest in the morning, and prosperity 
has a keener zest when it follows adversity. To be truly en- 
joyed, our lives must be chequered with light and shadow, 
and varied with different scenes. 

The railway between Nijne Novgorod and Moscow is about 
two hundred and fifty miles in length, and was built by 
French and Russian capital combined. There is only one 
passenger train each way daily, at a speed not exceeding 
twenty miles an hour. 

In the compartment where I sat there was a young French 
woman, governess in a family at Simbirsk, with a Russian 
female servant accompanying her. The governess was chatty, 
and invited me to join her in a feast of bon-bons, which she 
devoured at a prodigious rate. The servant was becomingly 



604 MOSCOW SEEN THROUGH THE FROST. 

silent, and solaced herself with cigarettes. The restaurants 
along the road are quite well supplied, especially those where 
full meals are provided. Two hours after starting we halted 
ten minutes for tea and cigarettes. Two hours later we had 
thirty minutes for supper, which was all ready at our arrival. 
About midnight we stopped at the ancient city of Vladimir, 
where there is a cathedral founded in the twelfth century. 
Stepping from the train to get a night glimpse of the place, 
I found a substantial supper (or breakfast) spread for con- 
sumption. In justice to the Russians, I am happy to say 
very few patronized this midnight table. 

At daybreak I rubbed the frost from a window and looked 
upon a stretch of snow and frost, with peasant cottages few 
and far between. An hour later, our speed slackened. Again 
cleaning the glass and peering through it, a large city came 
in sight. 

It was Moscow, — " Holy Moscow," — the city of the Czars, 
and beloved of every Russian. Suffering through Tartar, 
Polish, and French occupations, it has survived pillage, mas- 
sacre, fire, and famine, and remains at this day the most 
thoroughly national of the great cities of the empire. The 
towers and domes of its many churches glittered in the 
morning sunlight as they glittered half a century ago, when 
Napoleon and his soldiers first climbed the hills that overlook 
the city. 

It was a long drive from the station to the hotel. The 
morning was clear and cold, and the snow in the streets had 
been ground into a sand-like mass several inches deep. The 
solid foundation beneath was worn with hollows and ridges, 
that vividly recalled the oukhabas of the post road. Streets 
were full of sleds and sleighs, the latter dashing at a rapid 
rate. In the region near the station there were so many 
signs of ' TrakteerJ as to suggest the possibility of one half 
the inhabitants selling tea, beer, and quass to the other half. 
Near the center of the city the best shops displayed signs in 
French or English, generally the former. 

Of course I went early to the Kremlin. Who has ever 



THE GREAT BELL OF MOSCOW. 



605 



read or talked of Moscow without its historic fortress ? En- 
tering by the Sacred Gate, I lifted my hat in comformity to 
the custom, from which not even the emperor is exempt. 
One of my school-books contained a description of the Czar 
Kolokol, or Great Bell, and stated that a horse and chaise 
could pass through the hole where a piece was broken from 
one side. Possibly the miniature vehicle of Tom Thumb 
could be driven through, but, certainly, no ordinary one-horse 
shay could have any 
prospect of success. 
The hole is six feet in 
height, by about a 
yard wide at the bot- 
tom, and narrows like 
a wedge toward the 
top. The height and 
diameter of the bell 
are respectively nine- 
teen feet four inches 
by twenty feet three 
inches. It weighs 
444,000 pounds. It 
was cast in 1733, by 
order of the Empress 
Anne, and the hole in 
its side was made by 
the falling of some 
rafters during a fire 
in 1737. It remained 
buried in the ground 
until 1836, when it 

was raised and placed on its present pedestal by order of the 
Emperor Nicholas. 

To enumerate all the wonders of the Kremlin would con- 
sume much time and space. Somebody tells of a Yankee 
gazing at Niagara, and lamenting that a magnificent water 
power should run to waste. I could not help wondering how 




GREAT BELL OF MOSCOW. 



606 RICHES OF THE KREMLIN. 

many miles of railway could be built from the proceeds of 
the mass of wealth inside the Kremlin. Diamonds, rubies, 
pearls, crowns, sceptres, thrones, princely and priestly robes, 
are gathered in such numbers that eye and brain become 
weary in their contemplation. The most interesting of these 
treasures are those around which cling historic associations. 
The crowns of the kingdoms of Kazan and Astrachan point 
to the overthrow of Tartar power in Europe, while the throne 
of Poland symbolizes the westward course of the Muscovite 
star of empire. There are flags borne or captured in Rus- 
sia's victories, from the storming of Kazan and the defence 
of Albazin down to the suppression of Polish revolt. Mute 
and dumb witnesses of the misfortunes of the Crrand Armee 
are the long rows of cannon that lie near the Kremlin palace. 
Three hundred and sixty-five French guns tell of Napoleon's 
disastrous march to Moscow. 

The holiest part of holy Moscow is within the Kremlin. 
In the church of the Assumption the czars of Russia, from 
John the Terrible down to the present day, have been crowned. 
In the Michael church, until the accession of Peter the Great, 
the Rurik and Romanoff dynasties were buried ; while another 
church witnessed their baptism and marriage. What a won- 
derful amount of gold and jewels are visible in the churches 
and chapels of the Kremlin ! The floor of one is of jasper 
and agate ; pearl and amethyst and onyx adorn the inner 
walls of another. One has vast pillars of porphyry, and the 
domes and turrets of all are liberally spread or starred with 
gold. The pictures of the infant Saviour and his mother are 
hung with necklaces of jewels, each of them almost a fortune. 
One might easily think that the wealth of Ormuz or of Ind 
had been gathered to adorn the shrines of the most oriental 
Christian faith. 

I visted the Imperial Theatre, which the Muscovites pro- 
nounce the finest in the world. To my mind it is only equal- 
ed by La Scala at Milan, or San Carlo at Naples. Outside 
it reminded me of our ci-devant Academy of Music. Inside 
it was gorgeous, well arranged, and spacious. 



Si: 




IK til -^K 

Ml 'W^/Am) 




IMPERIAL THEATRE & FOUNDLING HOSPITAL. 607 

The Kitai G-orod, or Chinese town of Moscow, is close by 
the Kremlin and outside its walls. The only feature worthy 
the name of this part of the city is the number of Tartar in- 
habitants and the immense bazaar, or Gastinni Dvor, where 
the principal trade of Moscow has been centered for nearly 
three hundred years. The quantity of goods in the bazaar 
is something enormous. A Russian said to me : " If half 
the houses in Moscow were stripped of furniture, ornaments, 
and all things save the walls and roofs ; if their inhabitants 
were plundered of all clothing and personal goods except 
their bank accounts, — the gastinni dvor could supply every 
deficiency within two hours. You may enter the bazaar 
wearing nothing but your shirt, and can depart in an hour 
dressed and decorated in any manner you choose, and riding 
in your carriage with driver and footman in livery." 

The railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow is a gov- 
ernment affair, and forms nearly a direct line from one city 
to the other. It is said that the emperor Nicholas placed a 
ruler on the map and drew a line from one capital to the 
other to mark the route the engineers must follow. Notwith- 
standing the favorable character of the country the cost of 
the road was enormous, in consequence of alleged pecula- 
tions. There is a story that the government once wished to 
make a great impression upon a Persian embassy. All the 
marvels of St. Petersburg and Moscow were exhausted, but 
the oriental embassadors remained serene and unmoved. 

" What shall we do to surprise them," the emperor de- 
manded of his prime minister. 

" Nothing is better, sire," replied that official, " than to 
tell them the cost of the Imperial railway." 

One hears more about stealing and bribe taking in Russia 
than in any other country I ever visited. The evil is partly 
on account of low salaries and great expense of living, and 
partly due to ancient custom. The emperor has endeavored 
to establish a reform in this particular, but the difficulties are 
very great because of the secret character of " palm-greas- 



I 



608 



A STRANGE ENCOUNTER, 



ing." It is related that a German savant once remarked to 
Nicholas that he could do Russia a great service by breaking 
up the system of financial corruption. " To get such a pro- 
ject in action," replied the emperor, " I must begin by brib- 
ing my prime minister." 

Of the country between the capitals I saw very little. In 
the cars the double windows, covered with frost, were about 
as transparent as a drop curtain. We stopped at a great 
many capacious and well built stations, where there was 
abundant opportunity for feeding and drinking. The journey 
commenced at two in the afternoon, and was finished at ten 
on the following morning. The distance, according to offi- 
cial measurement, is four hundred and three miles.. 

The train halted at the station nearest St. Petersburg, and 
as we stood a moment upon the platform, we saw the great, 
gilded dome of St. Isaac's cathedral rising over the city. In 
St. Petersburg my first duty was to take breakfast, a bath, 
and a change of clothes at a hotel, and then to drive to the 
banker's for letters from home. I had not seen an American 
for five months ; as I alighted from my droshky, a well-dress- 
ed individual looked at me, and not to be outdone I returned 
his glance. Our eyes peered over two fur collars that ex- 
posed very little of our faces. After a moment's hesitation 
each of us spoke the other's name, and I experienced the 
double pleasure of meeting in one individual a countryman 
and an old friend. 



iSBB 




THE END. 



LRBJLlb 



